Rainbow Dash's Nightmareby There Is Nothing HereChaptersThe Nightmare BeginsThe Frozen DarkA Forgotten PegasusDark DescensionScreaming In AgonyIn the Shadow of DeathTears of the LostThe Dark Knows No BoundsDead AirFading ShadowsThe Nightmare BeginsMy name... is Rainbow Dash. Yesterday, I was living a normal peaceful life with my friends. But now, all of it has been taken from me, my home, my friends, my life. I wander this frozen, dark abandoned wasteland, in search of something that will lead to me to how and why this has happened. When I was just a filly, I would have nightmares. Somebody would speak to me, warning me of this. I ignored it, assuming it would all pass in time.... I was wrong. "Hey Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash said as she greeted the energetic pink pony. "Hi Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie said as she hopped towards Sugar Cube Corner. It was a nice morning. The sun was out and there were no clouds in sight. Rainbow Dash proceeded to walk through Ponyville, she was too tired this morning to fly. Something had kept her awake last night, she couldn't fathom what it was, she just couldn't sleep. It was a good thing there were no clouds so she didn't have to clear them. As she walked around Ponyville searching for something to do, she noticed Scootaloo and Applebloom running up and down the streets. She asked Scootaloo what was wrong. "Sweetie Belle has gone missing," Scootaloo said. "We been runnin up n' down Ponyville searchin for her, but we ain't had no luck. We ast' around and no pony had seen her anywhere" Applebloom said. They both seemed really worried, Applebloom was almost at the point of crying. Even Scootaloo, the strong headed filly, even looked exhausted. "Thats terrible," Rainbow Dash uttered, "Does Rarity know about this?" "No, we tried to tell her but no pony opened the door when we knocked. We figured she was still sleeping, you know how that pony is always obsessing over her beauty sleep," Scootaloo said rolling her eyes. "Well girls, I'll help you find Sweetie Belle," Rainbow Dash said confidently. Rainbow Dash, Applebloom and Scootaloo searched all of Ponyville. Absolutely no pony had seen Sweetie Belle. Rarity came charging through the streets. "Where is my darling sister Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said with a worried look in her eyes. "We don't know. We been searchin for hours and there ain't been no sight o' her," Applebloom said. Rarity began to cry, her little sister had disappeared and no pony knew where she was. News spread through Ponyville, and massive search parties were sent around Equestria to find the little filly. The cyan pegasus decided that she would be the one brave enough to search the Everfree Forest. As she walked toward the forest a wind began to pick up. Then Rainbow Dash began to hear a very faint voice in the wind. It sounded... like... like Sweetie Belle! "It.... is.... coming......" The pegasus jumped up, obviously frightened. She rushed back to Ponyville to tell every pony what she heard. No pony believed her. Every pony told her to go home and nap, she was just hearing things. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, Rainbow figured she was just hearing things. She slowly trotted home, hopefully she would get some sleep tonight and everything would be ok in the morning. Dash woke up the next morning and she felt fine. She rushed to Rarity's house too see if they had found Sweetie Belle. Rarity wasn't home. She asked around Ponyville to see if any pony had seen her white coated friend. Rarity was at Ponyville Hospital. "Why in Equestria would she be at the hospital?" Rainbow asked to herself. She flew over to Ponyville hospital to see Rarity. Rarity was in one of the hospital rooms, kneeling over her sister, Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie Belle!" Rainbow said as she walked over to the battered filly. She was bruised and cut all over her body, and she was shaking vigorously. He lavender mane had turned a dark red and black color. "What happened, Sweetie Belle," Rainbow asked. Sweetie Belle did not reply. Her mouth moved but no sounds came out. "She was found near the edge of the Everfree Forest last night, after you left" Sweetie Belle's traumatized sister said with a tear in her eye. After a few days Sweetie Belle recovered and life in Ponyville returned to normal. Sweetie Belle was asked about what happened to her. All she remembered was that she fell asleep one night, and woke up in the Everfree Forest in a lot of pain. As she exited the forest she collapsed. I thought it was just a random freaky event. No pony knew what happened, or who would do such a thing to Sweetie Belle. There were absolutely no clues, so the investigation was called off. It wasn't just a random event, it was a sign. A sign that the worst, was still yet to come. Life in Ponyville returned to normal after Sweetie Belle returned. In fact, everything was completely perfect. Sweet Apple acres had an amazing Applebuck season, with tons of apples to keep all of the ponies happy. Not a single problem sparked... One day... 4 months after the Sweetie Belle incident "Good morning Tank," Rainbow Dash said as she was greeted by her pet Tortoise. She proceeded to fly off and practice some new flying techniques. Normally, Fluttershy would enjoy watching Rainbow try out her new moves, but she wasn't home when Rainbow Dash arrived. She figured that Fluttershy was out and she would meet with her later. Rainbow spent the day flying around Ponyville, testing new moves and pulling pranks on ponies as they walked by. She noticed Fluttershy slowly walking towards her house. She landed to say hello. "Hi Fluttershy. What's going on I haven't seen you all day." Fluttershy didn't respond, she just kept walking. "Is something wrong Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked trying to find out what was wrong with her friend. "It's nothing... it's just.... I couldn't sleep last night. It was weird, nothing out of the ordinary happened, I just couldn't sleep." Rainbow Dash was confused now, the same thing had happened to her right before Sweetie Belle, "Oh no," she thought. "Uhmm.. ok Fluttershy, hope you sleep better tonight. Gotta Dash!" Rainbow said nervously as she flew off. "This isn't good," she thought. "Ok Rainbow, get it together, nothings gonna happen... everything will be just fine..." Everything wasn't going to be fine. The next morning... that... that was the day where and when the end began. Rainbow Dash woke up the next morning, but something was different. It was morning time, but it was a lot darker than usual. Rainbow proceeded to clear some of the clouds to make the morning brighter. It was fruitless, the black clouds reformed, covering Ponyville in thick dusk. She landed and went to see Twilight, it didn't seem possible to her than clouds could instantly reform like that. Only Twilight would have the answer. As she walked into the library, it seemed quiet and dreary. She walked up the steps to meet her purple braniac friend. Instead, what she saw was dark red bloodstains covering Twilight's bed. The stains led halfway across the room, then ended suddenly. They were in the shape of circles, hoof prints to be exact. On Twilight's bed there was a small piece piece of paper. On it there were a few words written. "We warned you....." As Rainbow Dash read the note a black shadow rushed out of the note and through Rainbow Dash's face. She fell to the ground unconscious. When she woke up there was a picture on the ceiling... a picture of a pony. It was Rarity, the picture was bloodstained and torn. Rainbow knew this meant Rarity was in trouble as well. She rushed to Rarity's house and knocked on the door. Rarity opened the door, "Rainbow, what are you doing here?" Rarity said softly. She had obviously just woken up. "Rarity your never going to believe this! Twilight..." the cyan coated pegasus didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. As she said that, a black shadow rose up from the floor and dragged Rarity down into a small dark hole in the floor. Rainbow was shocked, at what she had just witnessed. Her friend Rarity, just dragged into a dark hole of death and despair, just like Twilight. Rainbow turned around... and her heart nearly stopped. What she was looking at was unreal. The black clouds that filled the sky were now pouring down dark shadows. Ponies everywhere were being dragged down into a black abyss. Rainbow flew into town, trying to save ponies from this chaos. Her efforts were in vain, she watched as Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and every other pony was dragged down into the abyss. As the black hole started to close Rainbow tried to rush in, in a desperate attempt to save her friends. It closed, and Rainbow was left alone in an abandoned dark Equestria. All she saw was a dark sky and the ruins of Ponyville. A voice appeared in the wind "Ahaha, poor Rainbow Dash, left alone in Equestria. Now we can't have that can we?" Almost instantly a dark shadow grabbed Rainbows legs and pulled her under, into the dark void. Rainbow Dash passed out when she was dragged under. She awoke, in a dark frozen wasteland. "Uggh where am I," the pegasus was confused and she had a headache. "What is this place.." Dash said. The sky was dark and the ground was freezing cold, it was entirely frozen. It didn't even look like there was soil or anything underneath it. She stood up and began to walk. She saw a figure in the distance... it looked like... like Fluttershy! She rushed toward her. When she got there, she witnessed the most horrific thing that she could have never even dreamed of. Fluttershy turned around. Her hair slumped down straight, she was bruised, cut and oozing blood from all over her. She turned around, and Dash nearly fainted. Fluttershy, her eye sockets empty, her mouth set in the scariest creepy smile. "Hi Rainbow Dash....." Her voice echoed... "Your eyes.... you look tired, let me fix that for you," Fluttershy said as she slowly walked toward Rainbow Dash. "G.. Get away from me," Rainbow Dash stuttered, backing away. "Oh come on.. Dashie, I just want to help... come now.. don't be afraid.. it's me Fluttershy..." Rainbow turned around and flew away as fast as she could. She looked behind her and Fluttershy was gone, she looked ahead of her and there she was, waiting. "You can't escape me Rainbow Dash... You're my friend and I'll follow you forever....." Fluttershy grabbed Rainbow Dash. She struggled to get free, but it was useless, Fluttershy's grip was too tight. Fluttershy pinned the defensless pony to the ground and picked up a sharp ice shard from the floor. Rainbow squirmed to the left and right, trying to get the deranged pony off of her. She used her back leg and and kicked Fluttershy off of her. "Oh no... that's not very friendly off you Rainbow Dash. Come now.. don't be difficult. Just give in.... it'll all be over soon..." Rainbow instantly flew up and bolted away. "I'll find you Rainbow Dash.... you can't escape." Rainbow Dash finally landed, needing to take a rest. "This can't be happening," Rainbow said. "If Fluttershy is like that, what could have happened to the rest of my friends. "Well why don't you find out..." A black shadow came and grabbed Rainbow Dash and pulled her into yet another dark abyss. She was left in a small dark room. Then 5 lights turned on. Under each of them was one of her friends. Then a 6th light turned on. The light was dim and the figure under it was still impossible to see. "Hi Rainbow Dash...." Fluttershy said. Rainbow looked in horror at her friends. They had all fallen to the same fate as Fluttershy. "Now Rainbow Dash, I'm sure you are wondering what's going on," the figure under the 6th light said. "Yea... What did you do to my friends, more importantly, why are you doing this!" Rainbow said, trying to be strong. "Why am I doing this? You shall find that out when I am ready to tell you. When I look into your face, I see your trying to be strong, you're not. I've tortured you to the point where you're as weak as Fluttershy once was. I saw how scared you were when you saw Fluttershy. Right now, what you are experiencing, is a never ending nightmare. You and all of Equestria will remain here forever. But this is your nightmare, I am feeding off of your fear. Every pony in Equestria has fallen the same fate as your friends. You, Rainbow Dash will now live in this world of darkness and fear. All because, I feel a pure deep dark hatred for everything. I decided to torture every pony the same way you are being tortured at this very moment. This.. is nothing but a nightmare, that you and every pony in Equestria is being forced to see. The 5 ponies beside me are not real, simply illusions that I am using to torture you. But, I have had a change of heart." ".......What...do you mean," the terrified pegasus said, holding back tears in her eyes. "I will release Equestria from this nightmare, they will not have to witness this chain of horrific events. However you must stay in the frozen wasteland with these 5 illusions of your friends. You will remain there, until the day you die. Until that day, my illusions of Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, will hunt you down. They will not kill you, they will torture you nonstop, until you collapse on the floor and never move again. What do you say. Because if not this nightmare will continue, and it will envelop all of Equestria, until all hope for the pony future is lost." "Why.. why me. Why is it me that you want?!" Rainbow said, crying hard. "You were the closest to solving this mystery. I have other reasons, but in due time you shall figure out why. Sweetie Belle almost had too, her spirit was too strong to be broken. So I wiped her memory and dropped her in the Everfree Forest. You have shown the most resistance to this nightmare. You were the last to be enveloped by it. That, my dear Rainbow Dash is why you will remain here. The choice is up to you, and I would hurry and make my decision if I were you." "...Ok...I'll do it, As long as Equestria is safe from the hell you've hidden here," Rainbow Dash said bravely. "A smart choice, all memory of you and of Sweetie Belle's disappearance, and of the black cloud storm that enveloped Equestria will all be erased. Nobody will remember you or anything else, like it never happened. GOODBYE RAINBOW DASH!" Everything went black. Rainbow Dash awoke, in the same frozen wasteland she had before. She found a small ice shard on the ground and began to carve a message into the ice... My name... is Rainbow Dash. Yesterday, I was living a normal peaceful life with my friends. But now, all of it has been taken from me, my home, my friends, my life. I wander this frozen, dark abandoned wasteland, in search of something that will lead to me to how and why this has happened. When I was just a filly, I would have nightmares. Somebody would speak to me, warning me of this. I ignored it, assuming it would all pass in time.... I was wrong If any pony else is enveloped in this nightmare, know that I am out there somewhere, running and surviving. The Frozen DarkHow long has it been...... Maybe 7,8 days? I've been wandering this land, there is no edge, and the scenery remains the same. The same dark black sky, the same frozen icy ground. I no longer feel hunger, the bastard who sent me here took that away from me so I would live longer. I have no idea what I could have done that left me to this fate. I fear sleeping when I'm tired, I fear being found by one of the illusions of my friends. He said they were sent to torture me. Who he is? I have no idea, but I'm determined to find out. I just have no idea where to start, I was brought to him by a black shadow and sent back here for eternity. This eternal frozen nightmare, where I cannot die from anything other than age. If I don't do something, I'll be stuck here forever. There has to be something I can do...... There just has too.... Rainbow Dash slowly walked across the frozen wasteland. For about a week she had been stuck in this nightmare. She barely slept, all she could do was keep moving. "...........It feels.. like there's no end. I'll just keep walking like this forever. Why.....what did I do...." Rainbow collapsed, exhausted from walking. "Wake up Rainbow Dash!" "......What....." It was Twilight, she was standing over Rainbow Dash who had fallen asleep under a tree. "What.... it was all just.. a dream?" the Pegasus stuttered "I don't know, but you were tossing and turning like crazy, like.... you were being tortured. Is something the matter?" Something was wrong, what Rainbow had experienced was no mere nightmare, it was real... this... THIS was just a dream. Rainbow awoke... still in the same spot she collapsed in. She looked up into the eyes, or bare eye sockets of Twilight's Illusion. "Ahhh!!" Dash said as she instantly stood up. "I got her, don't worry darling we aren't going to hurt you," That petrified Pegasus turned around and saw Rarity's illusion as well. Rarity grabbed Rainbow Dash and held her against the icy floor. "Good job Rarity" Twilight's illusion laughed manically Twilight attempted to do what Fluttershy had done to her when she first entered the nightmare. She picked up and small sharp piece of ice towards Rainbow's eye. The cyan Pegasus knew she wouldn't die from this, but she didn't want to give in, she was going to fight until she went down for good. She rolled to the left with extreme force attempting to use her wings as a propeller. Rarity tumbled off Rainbow Dash. "Oh Dashie.... you always were a stubborn one.... But you can't escape us. We'll follow you forever and ever." Twilight said softly. Rainbow began hovering in the air ready to take off... when she got an idea. Since these illusions had the same personality as speaking patterns as her real friends, would Pinkie Pie be as thick headed? Would she be able to somehow fool Pinkie Pie into telling her how to get back to that dark lord guy? It seemed like a good plan, but first she had to ditch these two. "Follow me forever if you want, but you can never catch Rainbow Dash" She winked at the two illusions and flew off. She now had hope, well getting to the dark lord was only the first step. What was she going to do when and if she found him? So many questions ran through her mind. Also, how was she supposed to get Pinkie Pie to tell her anything? Maybe she could have gave her a cupcakes or threw her a party but that wouldn't work down here. There was nothing. As the Pegasus landed and began to walk once more she thought of what she could possibly do. Then it hit her.. "Pinkie Pie... loves anything colorful and pretty. If I can pull off a Sonic Rainboom down, that may convince her to help me. She may be a delusional murderous freak, but she's still Pinkie Pie. With all the darkness down here she definitely doesn't see any colors." It was the only plan Rainbow thought of, and it was the one that she had to go for. However she ran into one last problem. How was she going to find Pinkie Pie, and if she did what if she wasn't alone. "Uggh... nothing works out for me. Well I'll just have to think of something...again" the cyan Pegasus said. Just as she said that she saw another figure in the distance. It was too small to be one of her friends... It looked like.. no... it couldn't be. It was Sweetie Belle. "What.. this is impossible, did that dark lord make more illusions to chase me?" Rainbow walked slowly towards Sweetie Belle, it wasn't an illusion it was actually Sweetie Belle! "RAINBOW DASH!" Sweetie Belle jumped on Rainbow Dash, she was acting more clingy than Scootaloo. "How did you get here?" "I... I.. I don't know... I.. I went to sleep and woke up here. Just like when I fell asleep that one night and that scary dark lord guy kept me here. He kept asking me things but I wouldn't tell him anything, after awhile he dropped me in the Everfree Forest and left me there" This wasn't right.... Sweetie Belle had no memory of what happened to her. The dark lord erased her memory, this Sweetie Belle, was nothing more than... an illusion! Rainbow Dash raised her hoof and smacked the filly as hard as she could. She was right, a spell faded and she was staring into the face of Applejack's illusion. "Awww sugarcube, that was down right mean o' ya. I was juss' playin witcha... no need to be a scared." Applejack's illusion walked closer to Rainbow.... "Now come on Dashie... no need to walk away from me... it may be the last thing you ever do.." Applejack's voice got deeper.... and louder. Dash couldn't take it anymore, she had seen the illusions of her friends... horrifying nightmare inducing monsters. Rainbow Dash was too tired to fly. She slowly tried to run away from Applejack. It was useless, these illusions were a lot faster and stronger than her. "It's ok girls, ya'll can come out now." The rest of the illusions rose up from the ground. They all stared at Rainbow Dash for a while, then it was Fluttershy who broke the silence. "Rainbow Dash... why did you run from us.. we just want to be your friends.. we want you to be like us.." Fluttershy pointed at Rainbows eyes. Rainbow was barely holding back tears. The illusions had her, she was going to be tortured for eternity, she was too weak to run away. Fluttershy this time didn't reach for one of the shards of ice on the floor. She lifted her hoof and reached to a small bag that had been sitting on her back. She pulled a sharp bladed knife out of the bag. She slowly walked towards Rainbow Dash. "See Rainbow Dash.... don't resist, it'll all be over soon, oh wait... no it won't" Fluttershy let out a menacing laugh and the other illusions followed. She pointed the knife towards the petrified Pegasus's eyes when Rainbow felt Applejacks grip shift. Right when she did that, the cyan Pegasus kicked Fluttershy back, and knocked the knife out of her hoof, it went straight up and fell down and jammed straight into Fluttershy's head. Fluttershy howled....the blood slowly oozing out of her head. She stood up... "Rainbow Dash... Rainbow Dash... Rainbow Dash.... this isn't over....." Fluttershy and the rest of the illusions faded into the ground. Dash landed, hoping that she had some time to rest..and began to nap. "Hey.. Rainbow Dash wake up!" The cyan Pegasus instantly jumped up... and standing before her was Pinkie Pie's illusion. "You know that was a really mean thing you did to Fluttershy." Rainbow decided to play along, Pinkie's illusion obviously wasn't much different than the real one. "Yea I know... but she was trying to hurt me... you wouldn't want me to get hurt would you?" "No of course not, you're my bestest friend!" "Yea, hey Pinkie... I'm having a small problem.. do you think you could help me?" "Sure no problem Dashie... what is it?" "Well do you remember that scary dark lord that brought me here?" "Oh yea him... he's not scary.... You should give him a chance he's really nice!" "WelI I would like to but I don't know how to get to him. If you show me how I'll show you something super awesome fantastically cool!" "Oooooo deal deal!" Pinkie's illusion hopped up and down. The cyan Pegasus flew up as high as she could, and used all her energy into trying to form a Sonic Rainboom. As she sped up her muscles strained, her body was basically screaming at her to stop. But if she didn't do this she would never get a chance to leave this nightmare. Finally, Rainbow Dash doubled in speed and a huge rainbow shot out from her path. Pinkie's illusion ooed and awwed at the sight. "Okie dokie, a deals a deal!" Pinkie grabbed Rainbow Dash and they both faded into the ground. "Well, well, well.. If it isn't Rainbow Dash," the dark lord said. "Yea it's me... I beat your stupid little illusions and fooled one into taking me here, now you're going to tell me what I want to know!" "Fine... what exactly do you want to know?" "First... who the hell are you and why are you doing this?" "My name.... well you can call me Alphion, the Nightmare Inducer. Now why am I doing this. Well I guess I should answer another question you probably have first." "Okay.. fine with me!" "It's why I brought YOU here to be tortured in this nightmare. Out of all of your friends, you were the strongest, the bravest, the most stubborn. Remember the Discord incident? Twilight got all of her friends to come to her senses easy, you however did not come so quietly. You were also the closest to figuring what had been going on when I first enveloped Equestria in this nightmare. When Fluttershy couldn't sleep that one night, you knew it meant something.. but you chose to ignore it. When the black clouds formed over Equestria, you attempted to clear them, and when they reformed you tried to find out why, which is why Twilight was the first to go. You were and always have been the strongest, that is why I wanted you gone. Sweetie Belle's disappearance, that was a test, I wanted to see how Ponyville would act in the event of a disappearing pony, it was only serious until she was found." "Your sick. You did all this to me because I'm strong, so tell me WHY exactly are you doing this?" "Well there is only one way to defeat me, the same way Discord and Nightmare Moon were defeated, all six elements of harmony combined. But without you Rainbow Dash, I cannot be defeated or even reached by the other 5 ponies. So I decided to trap you here, and then the Elements of Harmony would be useless against me. I could do whatever I pleased with Equestria, so I fooled you to remain in this nightmare, which would leave Equestria vulnerable," "You forgot one thing, if you erased my existence from Equestria, Nightmare Moon and Discord were never defeated... Equestria would belong to them!" "That is where you are wrong, I created a new pony that would be your replacement in Equestria, she serves me and only me, so if somehow the Elements of Harmony were going to be used to destroy me, the pony I conjured would cross to my side, leaving Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy defenseless." Rainbow Dash was speechless.... Alphion had thought of everything, he was unstoppable. "However... Since you went through all this trouble to find me, I will give you one last chance to save Equestria. I will return you to Equestria, if you can convince your friends that my agent is working against them and that you actually do exist, I shall allow Equestria to continue it's existence. But if not, you return to this nightmare, this time, you are unable to die period. No old age death, you absolutely cannot die, and you will be hunted by the illusions of your friends. And Pinkie Pie will be fixed so that you never pull a stunt like this again." "......" Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words, Alphion had to be pulling something, he wasn't just going to let Rainbow Dash wander freely in Equestria. "Make your choice...." "I'll go" "Very well" I ascended into the dark sky above me... not knowing if I would succeed or not, but I knew I had to do this, for my friends, and for Equestria. A Forgotten PegasusI have returned to Equestria. I was give one last chance by Alphion, the Nightmare Inducer to save Equestria from his nightmares. He has erased my existence from this world. If I can prove that I exist and that his "agent" as he calls this pony that replaced me, is working with Alphion, he has promised to leave Equestria alone. He may be plotting another scheme like he did before, but this is the only chance I have, and I must take it. ************************************************************************************************* Rainbow Dash rose up from the ground in the exact same spot where she had been dragged into Alphion's nightmare. On the outskirts of Ponyville. Last time she saw it, Ponyville was destroyed and in ruins, but now it's as if nothing happened. She figured the first thing she should do is find out who this mysterious "agent" was. How was she to find one pony in Ponyville. Well there was one pony who knew every pony in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie. "If Alphion erased my existence, Pinkie Pie obviously won't recognize me, and she'll likely throw me a welcome party just like she did for Twilight." The cyan Pegasus trotted down to Sugarcube Corner to see if her pink friend was there. She walked in the front door, and Pinkie was standing right at the counter. Rainbow proceeded to walk up to her. Since she had no money, she couldn't by anything so she walked around a bit and walked out. "AHHHH!" Rainbow Dash heard Pinkie Pie scream, she obviously realized that this Pegasus was new in town. After around an hour trotting around Ponyville waiting to either see Pinkie Pie, or some sort of party for her. She trotted through the side streets of Ponyville when something grabbed her. She was blindfolded and her mouth was taped shut. When the tape and blindfold was removed, Rainbow Dash was sitting in the Ponyville library. Pinkie Pie had done it. Just about every pony in Ponyville had to be there. "Hi, you're new in town right! So if you're new then you must not have any friends so you must be lonely and that made me sooooo sad! So I threw you a welcome party so you can make friends! Hi I'm Pinkie Pie!" "I'm Rainbow Dash.. nice to meet you Pinkie Pie" Rainbow felt very awkward talking to one of her closest friends like she barely knew her. "Ok now come on I have some ponies I want you to meet!" Rainbow Dash was sure Pinkie would introduce her to Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and this new pony who had taken Dash's place. "Ok so this is Twilight Sparkle..." The cyan Pegasus had stopped listening, already knowing what she was going to say. "annnd finally this is Blitz! I had one more pony I wanted you to meet, but she's not here now" "There we go," Rainbow thought to herself. "Hi, I'm Blitz, who are you?" "Fanmade picture of Blitz that I made" "My name is Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you Blitz" This had to be Alphion's agent. She had never seen her in Ponyville before. However, this did not seem like a bad pony to Rainbow Dash. She had an eggshell coat with with wings about the same size as Rainbow's. She had along red mane that reached down to the top of her legs. She had a sweet soft voice, but she wasn't very shy like Fluttershy. She seemed friendly at first, but this was exactly Alphion's plan, to make Blitz seem so nice that Rainbow could never prove she was working for him. The worst part of it was, nobody knew who Alphion was! The cyan coated Pegasus spent the rest of the party walking around and thinking how to solve her problem. She also tried to get closer with her friends, hopefully to give her some slack, making easier to prove Blitz's evil intentions. "Ok every pony.. party's over!" Every pony began to get their stuff and leave the library. "Hey Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow turned around to see Blitz walking towards her. Dash didn't know what to do, did Alphion somehow inform Blitz that Rainbow was coming? "Hey, Rainbow Dash so I was wondering....If you don't have some place to stay tonight, I could show you a spot where the clouds are nice and soft, perfect for getting a good nights sleep, especially after that party." The cyan Pegasus was very confused... if this was supposed to be her replacement in history, Alphion most definitely informed her WHO she was copying. But Rainbow Dash was exhausted and Blitz couldn't do anything to her while they were in Ponyville. "Sure that sounds nice, thank you." "Ok, follow me." Blitz led Rainbow Dash to the same place where she had normally slept. Rainbow Dash fell asleep on the cloud, happy that for at least one night, she could have a good rest. Rainbow Dash awoke again in the middle of the night. Blitz had fallen asleep next to her. "Ok.... this getting really weird. This pony is too nice and too sweet to be helping Alphion," Just then, a dark figure rose up from the ground. It was Alphion. "You have 2 weeks Rainbow Dash, if by then you have not proved that my "agent" is working for me, you will return to my nightmare." Rainbow's heart stopped, she only had two weeks, how was she supposed to gain her "friends" trust in two weeks. There had to be one little shred of evidence that could help her. The next morning the cyan Pegasus awoke, Blitz was no longer next to her, she had probably already flew off already. She thought long and hard about what her next move would be. She decided to spy on Blitz, to see if she was close enough with her old friends to be replacing her. Blitz had to have been one of the nicest ponies she had ever seen. First she went down to Sweet Apple Acres to help Applejack with the apple bucking. She helped Pinkie Pie watch the Cake's Twins. She helped Twilight clean the library. She helped Fluttershy tend to her animals, she could even get Angel to finish his vegetables, something even Fluttershy couldn't do. She was perfect, too nice for an average pony. This had to be Alphion's plan, make Blitz seem so nice that there was no way any pony would suspect her of anything. The only thing Dash could do to prove it was maybe try and tell one of her friends, she knew everything about them, that had to make them somewhat suspicious, right? "I can't do that, it's too risky and if they don't believe me my cover will be blown." That's when it happened, Blitz was trotting down Ponyville into a small dark alley. Dash followed her and kept her ear close to the wall, Blitz was talking to someone. "... Yes everything is in order master. There is no way that, this Pegasus will complete her task on time." Rainbow Dash was shocked, she heard clearly what Blitz said, she flew away thinking of a plan to expose Blitz. "If I see her going into that alley again, I'll convince my friends to listen to what she says and expose that red maned deceiver." Then the cyan Pegasus had a better idea, instead of immediately exposing her, she would try to get closer to Blitz, maybe this pony was working for Alphion, but if she was an actual pony with real emotions, she would tell Rainbow something. The next morning Rainbow Dash awoke, full prepared knowing what she had to do today. She invited Blitz to hang out at Ponyville Park today, hopefully to try and learn more about her. "Hi Rainbow Dash." "Hey Blitz glad you could make it!" "Yea soo, what do you wanna do? Oh just saying I have to leave a little early, Rarity needs help making a new dress and she wanted my help." "Oh.. ok no problem." This pony obviously didn't want to be around Rainbow Dash, she was afraid she might tell her something she shouldn't. The two Pegasi talked for around an thirty minutes. Rainbow was getting no information out of her, it was like she always knew exactly what to say. "Wait..." Rainbow thought to herself, if this pony is my replacement in history, she grew up in the same place as me, then again.... most Pegasi grew up in Cloudsdale. So her answer would probably be that, but it couldn't hurt to ask. "Where are you from Blitz?" Blitz thought for a second, she finally didn't have the answer to this question, she may have been Rainbow Dash's replacement, but she still didn't know everything about her. Finally she replied, "Well, I was born in Canterlot and my parents wanted to send me to Cloudsdale, I didn't want to go, I'm not much into flying." This made no sense... Fluttershy wasn't even into flying a lot and she still went to Cloudsdale, now Blitz was just making excuses. "Hey Rainbow Dash...Is something bothering you?" "What no.. no nothing at all." "Mmk" Blitz said in a soft voice, she inched close to Rainbow Dash. A small smile grew on her face. "Wow look at time, uhhh I really gotta go seeya Blitz!" The cyan Pegasus dashed away from Blitz. "I couldn't get any information out of her, except that she lied about Cloudsdale, I'll expose her tomorrow night. It's my only option at this point." Sure enough Blitz returned to the alley the next night, the cyan Pegasus flew away, she didn't need to hear what Blitz was saying, she had her now. Rainbow flew back to her cloud feeling proud that tomorrow she could expose Blitz. Dash woke up the next morning to find Blitz sleeping next to her yet again. "Ok there are like 100 clouds here, I don't care if she's an agent of darkness, but she's playing this waaay to safe. She's trying to get close to me (literally it seems) so that I don't suspect it's her. It gives her away" Rainbow Dash went to Ponyville Park to spend the day, Blitz went into the alley just after dusk, she would convince the rest of the ponies beforehand. ************************************************************************************************* That night... I thought I had it all planned out, I had been in Ponyville for around 5 days and I thought I had already won, I was wrong.... completely... wrong. ************************************************************************************************ The red maned Pegasus went into the alley that night, Rainbow had convinced Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie to follow her. When Blitz began to speak, the ponies were shocked at what they heard. Then Pinkie poked her head around the corner. "Rainbow Dash you silly filly, Blitz is just reading a story to the Cake's twins. She does that every night, even though those two are still babies, they looove Blitz's scary stories." Rainbow Dash was in awe, she believed she had evidence Blitz was deceiving them. "Rainbow Dash, you're new here, and you had the nerve to accuse a nice pony such as Blitz of being a Dark Lord's agents, maybe you should go..." "But.. wait" "No Rainbow Dash... come on girls, lets go" Not even Fluttershy had a comforting word to say. The cyan Pegasus was crushed, her friend Twilight Sparkle, just told her to leave, she had really screwed up this time. The 4 ponies walked away. Rainbow walked all the way back to the spot where she used to sleep. Blitz had to be Alphion's agent, she had to. "She must have known, Alphion has been telling her, that's why she can predict what I'm going to do, I can't win. Unless.." She thought about returning to that nightmare. She got angrier and angrier until she felt she had no other choice, if she was going back to that nightmare, she was going to make sure Alphion was setback in his plan to envelop Equestria in his nightmare. Rainbow hid under the tree and waited for Blitz to return. Blitz flew around and finally landed on the soft cloud. "Where's Rainbow Dash is? She's normally here before me." "I'm right here...." Rainbow Dash rose up from the cloud and knocked Blitz off. "Shutup... you're coming with me" The cyan Pegasus was growing darker and darker. She dragged the unconscious Blitz far away from Ponyvillle. "Get up. You think you can just take my place in history, ruin my life and have Alphion lock me away in that nightmare!" "R..Rainbow Dash I don't know what you're talking about.. p..please ...do...don't hurt me" She got up and Rainbow struck her multiple times. She jumped on her chest breaking her ribs. Blitz was literally begging Rainbow Dash to stop. All Rainbow could think about was returning to that nightmare in failure. If she was going to remain in oblivion forever, she was going to do as much damage as she could to Alphion's plan. She choked Blitz until she stopped breathing, Blitz fell limp and lifeless on the cold hard ground. It grew cold... and silent. Rainbow stared at the dead body of Blitz. She didn't say a word..... "Well, well, well... you did it" Rainbow Dash turned around and saw a pony staring at her. She had never seen this pony in her life. "Oh... I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself" The pony stepped out from under the shade of the tree. "My name is Sonic Spark" This pony had a gray coat,she was a Pegasus just like Rainbow Dash,and she had a mane almost the same style as Rainbow Dash's, except the colors were a bright yellow and black. "Fanmade image of Sonic Spark" "What are you doing here?" " You thought you had this all planned out? You thought you could fool Alphion? Alphion never gave you a fair chance, he knew you would fail. See the dead Pegasus over there? You thought killing Alphion's agent would at least somewhat help you? Well it would, if you had at least killed the right pony. "Wh....What do you mean?" The cyan Pegasus felt her body tense up. She was shaking, scared what this pony's response would be. "Blitz arrived in Ponyville after Alphion released all the ponies of Equestria from his nightmare and wiped their memories of you and the nightmare. Time moves a lot faster out here than in that nightmare. You've been gone for 4 months. When you got here he knew that you would immediately assume she was the agent because she hung around your friends the most. Since I knew this as well, I hid from you while darkness took control of you. When Ponyville hears about what you've done to Blitz, it's back to the nightmare with you. Blitz was no dark agent Rainbow Dash... I am." "You... you're Alphion's agent." "See now you're getting it. If you were smart you would have mentioned Nightmare Moon or Discord, every pony knows that Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Sonic Spark represent the 6 Elements of Harmony. They would have mentioned me." "You're not the sixth Element of Harmony, you cannot be the Element of Loyalty, you're betraying 5 of the strongest and nicest ponies in this land. And now laying next to me is the dead body of the nicest most innocent pony, because of you and because of Alphion. I'm not so sure Alphion is going to spare you when he envelops Equestria in a nightmare." "We did not kill Blitz... you did" . Rainbow Dash charged at Sonic Spark, but she faded away, just like Alphion's illusions. The cyan Pegasus began to cry, sobbing over Blitz's body, She would never forgive herself for what she had done. "She was innocent, just a regular nice pony.... look what I've done.... Alphion tricked me... he got Sonic Spark to hide so that there was no chance of me finding her.." Now she was doomed to wander Alphion's nightmare forever. 9 days later ************************************************************************************************* I have been wandering Equestria.. returning to Ponyville would be useless, Sonic Spark told everyone what I did to Blitz. I'm a wanted criminal. This is my last day in Equestria before I go back to Alphion's nightmare. I have failed my friends, I have failed myself, I have failed Equestria. ************************************************************************************************* Just then a black shadow rose up from the ground, and dragged Rainbow Dash down, back into Alphion's nightmare. "Welcome back.... Rainbow Dash." Dark DescensionI have failed..... Blitz is dead...... I was unable to prove Sonic Spark's deception........ Equestria.... is..... doomed..... ********************************************************************************************* "Welcome back Rainbow Dash....you have failed in your task. You know what this means" ".....I know what this means......I don't care... you made me murder an innocent pony, your a sick twisted monster....Return me to the nightmare... But I won't give up.... no matter what you do to me.. you won't break me." "You call me a monster? I'm not the one who killed poor Blitz." "You bastard...." Rainbow couldn't control herself, her soul had fallen to darkness. Her entire body was fueled with her rage. She wasn't going to go down, not without a fight... She charged at Alphion, in a desperate attempt to wound him. "No,no,no" Alphion shot a dark beam out of his palm, striking Rainbow Dash full force.... She collapsed on the ground. "Fluttershy...." "Yes... m..master Alphion" "She is too strong, I will find a way to break her spirit. Make sure she doesn't get up while I think." Fluttershy obeyed and walked over to the cyan Pegasus. She repeatedly kicked Rainbow Dash, every attempt she made to get up, she would be knocked back down. She looked up, Fluttershy's illusion looked even scarier, especially with the scar in the top of her head where the knife jammed into her skull. "y....y............y..............oooo...u.." Rainbow Dash collapsed unconscious, she was badly bruised and she was bleeding. With Alphion's curse she could not die, not ever, she was doomed to be tortured for eternity. She would be forced to watch Equestria be enveloped in a nightmare by Alphion. It was over, he had won. The cyan Pegasus had barely regained consciousness when she felt herself being dragged somewhere. She fully awoke inside what appeared to be a maze, a hedge maze to be exact. It looked like... the maze where Discord had trapped her and her friends. She got up and began walking... slowly through it. "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash saw Twilight, but there was someone next to her, it was Discord. "What? This can't be happening." Discord reached for Twilight and picked her up by the throat. He began to choke her. "NO!" Rainbow Dash charged at Discord. She jumped at him and went right through him. Twilight fell limp and lifeless. "Do you enjoy what you're seeing Rainbow Dash?" It was Alphion, she heard his voice, but couldn't see him. "Did that hurt? Have you felt enough pain? Enough suffering! Feel this!" Rainbow felt herself being lifted off the ground, she felt a crushing force on her throat. Something was choking her, Alphion had to be using some kind of psychic power. "It won't end Rainbow Dash, you will remain here forever! GET USED TO THE PAIN!!" Alphion launched the cyan Pegasus against a wall. She opened her eyes, and saw Fluttershy's illusion slowly walking toward her... Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. She was going crazy, her vision was so blurry. "I wanted you to be like me Rainbow Dash..." Yet again she pointed at her eyes. Rainbow thought this was it, Fluttershy was going to gouge her eyes out and she would wander this world with no sight. No way of knowing where she was going. "But.... Alphion has forbid it, you must see everything that is going to happen to you. You're stuck here forever, this is only the beginning." Fluttershy reached for her back again, and pulled the knife out of her saddle bag. She held it in her hoof and jammed it into Rainbow Dash's side. The cyan coated Pegasus was too weak to cry out, but she was screaming on the inside. The pain was completely unbearable. "I'll be back later... goodbye Dashie." Fluttershy let out a light menacing laugh and walked away. Dash fell unconscious yet again. ***************************************************************************************************** "Come Princess Celestia! This is where it happened!" Sonic Spark said as she led Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and the rest of the Mane 6 to the spot where Blitz had been killed. Her body was no longer there but the Princesses wanted to see the spot for themselves. "So, Sonic Spark, you saw Rainbow Dash kill Blitz with your own eyes correct?" "Yes Princess Celestia, I was flying around and I saw Dash choke Blitz and throw her on the ground. By the time she was dead Rainbow Dash had flew away, I couldn't save Blitz." Princess Luna gave Sonic Spark a strange look, it didn't seem very coincidental for her to be flying here just when Blitz was murdered. "Hmm... it is a real shame what the Pegasus did," Princess Celestia didn't seem to suspect a thing. Luna was lost in thought. "Is something the matter Luna?" "Yes Celestia, I don't believe Sonic Spark. Something you want to tell us?" "N...No Princess why would I lie to you?" "Good, because let us see if your story is true." A glowing purple light emanated from Luna's horn, she fired it at the ground. Every pony was getting a glimpse into the past. ***************************************************************************************** "My name is Sonic Spark" "What are you doing here?" " You thought you had this all planned out? You thought you could fool Alphion? Alphion never gave you a fair chance, he knew you would fail. See the dead Pegasus over there? You thought killing Alphion's agent would at least somewhat help you? Well it would, if you had at least killed the right pony. "Wh....What do you mean?" "Blitz arrived in Ponyville after Alphion released all the ponies of Equestria from his nightmare and wiped their memories of you and the nightmare. Time moves a lot faster out here than in that nightmare. You've been gone for 4 months. When you got here he knew that you would immediately assume she was the agent because she hung around your friends the most. Since I knew this as well, I hid from you while darkness took control of you. When Ponyville hears about what you've done to Blitz, it's back to the nightmare with you. Blitz was no dark agent Rainbow Dash... I am." "You... you're Alphion's agent." "See now you're getting it. If you were smart you would have mentioned Nightmare Moon or Discord, every pony knows that Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Sonic Spark represent the 6 Elements of Harmony. They would have mentioned me." "You're not the sixth Element of Harmony, you cannot be the Element of Loyalty, you're betraying 5 of the strongest and nicest ponies in this land. And now laying next to me is the dead body of the nicest most innocent pony, because of you and because of Alphion. I'm not so sure Alphion is going to spare you when he envelops Equestria in a nightmare." "We did not kill Blitz... you did" ********************************************************************************************** "Just as I thought.... SONIC SPARK!" Luna's voice thundered as Sonic Spark trembled. "YOU WILL TELL US WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW RIGHT NOW! WHO IS ALPHION AND WHAT IS THE REAL REASON YOU ARE HERE!" Luna's voice was so becoming so loud the rest of the pony's backed away. "....Well......... ********************************************************************************************* "I'm back Rainbow Dash... Did you miss me? Here lemme help you with this" Fluttershy reached down and pulled the knife out of Rainbow Dash's side. The battered Pegasus was too injured to do anything. She was completely paralyzed and couldn't move an inch. "GET UP!" "O....O.....k" Rainbow was barely able to stand up, her legs trembling as she got up. The scenery around her began to change.... the hedge maze faded away and the frozen wasteland began to form. But something was different. The wind picked up and it was a lot colder than it was before. Snow and ice were falling from the dark clouds above. Fluttershy faded away saying. "Good luck....." The cyan Pegasus began walking, but didn't get very far, she collapsed yet again. She began to mutter something to herself. "This.... this is for eternity, with no relief, ever........ Equestria........ Twilight.... Rarity....... Applejack.............. .Fluttershy........ .........Pinkie.......Blitz....... I'm sorry......." Rainbow Dash began to sob heavily. She would never see her friends again. She would wonder the world forever, worst of all, she would have the torture of knowing that while she lived forever in this nightmare, her friends in Equestria would die. She began to cry even harder..... Alphion had broken her, he took Rainbow Dash, a brave kindhearted Pegasus, turned her into a dark evil murderer, and then forced her into a never ending nightmare with the knowledge that Equestria and her friends were dying out. ***************************************************************************************************** "Quick Twilight! There has to be a book here on Alphion!" Twilight and Princess Celestia were the first two to run into the Ponyville library. Sonic Spark had told them everything about Rainbow Dash and Alphion. "There's no need for a book..." "What do you mean Luna?" Just then Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity walked it, they had Sonic Spark tied up and she was trying hard to get free. She could have simply faded away since she was one of Alphion's illusions but Celestia put a spell on her to prevent her from doing so. "Ok, so as I was saying. Alphion.... the Nightmare Inducer. He alone, is stronger than me and you combined Celestia, his powers surpass even Discord's. He offered me a deal while I was still Nightmare Moon. I would rule Equestria from the real world, while he would do as he pleased with Equestria and it's ponies. But I had no interest in having him hurt innocent ponies. But moving on, he has the power to create powerful nightmares and illusions. Also he can erase the memories of his nightmares, or any living thing contained in his nightmares and replace them. Which is what he has done to Rainbow Dash." Every pony was speechless, Alphion did not sound like any laughing matter. "I wish I knew what his plans were this time, but they definitely not good. For him to contain Rainbow Dash in this nightmare, erase our memories of her and then replace her in history. I wonder what was so special about this Pegasus that she was subjected to this torment." Applejack stepped forward. "Well, dark lord or not, he's got our buddy trapped in that nightmare o' his. We need to find a way to stop him and fix this." "I wish it was that simple..... You see Alphion can only be defeated by the 6 Elements of Harmony combined, but without Rainbow Dash.... it is impossible." "Well we gotta do something! Poor poor Rainbow Dash is stuck in that awful nightmare all by herself!" "We'll think of something of something Pinkie Pie... we'll think of something" ***************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash stood up..... slowly, tears still dripping off her eyelids............ "Now Rainbow Dash... you look lonely, you could use some company." The cyan Pegasus stood up, trembling as she heard Alphion's voice. A shadow rose up from the ground and Rarity's illusion appeared. "Now my dear Rainbow Dash, you look terrible, you need a complete makeover..... Here let me help you." Rarity pulled a needle and thread out her saddlebag. "Get away... from me." Rarity let out a maniacal laugh. "Now my darling Dashie... This won't hurt a bit..." Rainbow Dash turned around, giving Rarity the illusion she was going to run. Then she lifted her legs, and used whatever energy she had and bucked Rarity has hard as she could. Rarity's illusion fell to the ground. She faded into the ground and the reappeared in front of the cyan Pegasus. She jabbed the needle at Dash's face. She quickly dodged it and swept her foot and knocked Rarity to the ground again. The cyan Pegasus quickly swiped the needle from Rarity and jammed into the left side of Rarity's face. "AHHHHHH!" Rarity howled in pain and the nightmare began to shake around Rainbow Dash. "ENOUGH!" Alphion rose up from the ground. Rainbow tensed up yet again... scared at what might happen to her next. "YOU!! I'M GROWING TIRED OF YOU! NO REGULAR PEGASUS IN THIS DAMNED WORLD CAN ENDURE WHAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH!! YOU'VE FORCED MY ILLUSION TO RETREAT FROM YOU! IT'S SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE!" Rainbow was petrified by Alphion's booming voice. He was completely furious... She was trying as hard as she could to show no fear. But the look in her eyes showed that she was terrified. "YOU'VE LEFT ME CHOICE! I WILL PUT YOU DOWN MYSELF!!" Alphion's voice began to lower in volume. "You Rainbow Dash.... I see now... you're too strong to be completely broken by my illusions. So I will break you myself, and for the rest of eternity.... my illusions will torture your petrified unmoving body." Alphion's palm began to glow, a dark aura surrounding it. He fired a huge ball of shadow at Rainbow Dash. "She'll dodge this for sure." He thought to himself. Sure enough the cyan Pegasus flew up dodging the last. Then almost instantly Alphion charged forward and grabbed Dash. "Take this!" He rose up into the dark sky, and chucked Rainbow Dash as hard as he could at the ground. She hit the cold icy ground that was so solid and hard it didn't even crack. She hit the ground so hard, with complete resistance from it. You couldn't even imagine what that would feel like. "Fluttershy.... come get her..." Alphion faded back into is lair, while Fluttershy appeared and dragged the unconscious Pegasus away. Dash awoke, chained to some kind of wall. "Wh....what's going on?" "Hi Rainbow Dash....." Fluttershy's illusion stepped forward. "Do you see this thing here?" Next to Fluttershy was some sort of machine... "Check out what it does..." The deranged Pegasus flipped a switch on the machine. A blast of freezing cold air shot out from it, blowing right on Rainbow Dash. "You know Rainbow Dash..... if it were possible for you to die, you would have froze to death by now. This machine shoots out cold air at -200 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks to Alphion, I can create whatever I wish to torture you. I mean, the way you dodged Rarity's attacks and then stabbed her with her own needle, you were practically on fire! I figured this would.... cool you down a bit..." Rainbow Dash couldn't focus on what Fluttershy was saying. This was completely unbearable. She began to scream, this was the worst thing she could ever imagine. Why wasn't she freezing? She should have turned to a block of ice by now, probably another spell from Alphion, so she would have to feel the pain of the blast. Why.... why couldn't Alphion just kill her! It would make it so that she could never interfere with his plans again. Why................. *************************************************************************************************** Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Luna and Celestia had been sitting in the library for hours. They were interrogating Sonic Spark, trying to get her to reveal something about Alphion. "Come on y'all this ain't workin none. She's too stubborn." Everyone seemed to agree with Applejack. "Wait.... I have an idea." Rarity said. "Pinkie Pie... could you do me a favor, talk to our dear Sonic Spark here, use any means necessary to get her to say something. Every pony else follow me." The ponies all gave Rarity a strange look. "Absolutely no pony can listen to Pinkie Pie talk nonstop for more than ten minute, she'll crack, just give it time." 10 minutes later... "AAAHHHH MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE BE QUIET!" "Seeee, I told you she would crack." "Ok... I'll tell you everything. Alphion about 8 months ago, had taken Sweetie Belle and dragged her into a nightmare just like Rainbow Dash. Sweetie Belle was getting nightmares, warnings about him. She had been investigating in Twilight's library at night researching him. So he erased her memory and left her and dropped her in the Everfree Forest. Ponyville gave a weak response to it since there was no evidence of her disappearance. Rainbow Dash received a sign of her disappearance beforehand, she couldn't sleep for no reason. That is the sign of Alphion's coming. 4 months later, Alphion had a plan, to envelop Equestria in a nightmare, but with all 6 Elements of Harmony being in the real world, it was impossible to keep them all contained for long.. Fluttershy received the same sign the night before, when Rainbow Dash heard that Fluttershy couldn't sleep she began to freak out. The next day Alphion captured Twilight, Rarity and then the rest of Equestria. He decided to fool Rainbow Dash into remaining in the nightmare. He said that by her staying here, he would release everyone. He replaced her in history with me, a fake Element of Loyalty. He wiped everyone's memory of her, Sweetie Belle's disappearance and the nightmare storm. While his power was being rebuilt, Rainbow Dash was left being tortured in the nightmare." "Typical move for Alphion," Luna said. "Wait, why wouldn't Alphion just kill Rainbow Dash?" "Alphion's power may be great, but he cannot kill any pony with the Element of Harmony contained inside her. But.. continuing on. So Alphion forced Rainbow Dash to wander his nightmare, while being hunted by horrific illusions of her friends. They would torture her, but were unable to kill her. Rainbow however, tricked Pinkie Pie's illusion into taking her back to Alphion. Alphion gave Rainbow Dash one last chance to save Equestria. She would return to Ponyville and she had to prove that I was working for him. So I hid, and Blitz had arrived in town after all the ponies were released from his nightmare. Rainbow Dash assumed Blitz was Alphion's agent so she gathered evidence to expose her. She thought Blitz was too nice for an average pony. She thought Blitz was just acting so no pony would suspect her. After what she heard in the alley and in the park, she decided to tell you girls. But when Blitz had just been reading to the Cakes' twins, she thought Alphion had informed Blitz of her next move, so she faked it. Then Rainbow began to grow darker and darker, thinking about returning to the nightmare. Alphion gave her two weeks to prove it, or she would return to the nightmare, to be tortured for eternity. So Rainbow killed Blitz, in a desperate attempt to at least postpone Alphion's attack." ".............................Unbelievable........................" Every pony was shocked at what they were hearing. Their friend was trapped in an endless nightmare, Blitz was dead, and they had been deceived by the evil pony illusion. "Well how do we get to this Alphion feller?" Applejack said. "Ahahah," Sonic Spark laughed weakly.... "It would be pointless, only Alphion can release Rainbow Dash from her nightmare, and he would never do that. It's a suicide mission." "We don't care.... if we don't do something, all of Equestria will be consumed by this nightmare." "I.... will never.... tell you.... AHHH!" Sonic Spark struggled to get free... the ropes snapped and she flew up into the air. "YOU WILL NEVER GET TO ALPHION!!" Sonic Spark's eyes grew dark. She began firing shadow blasts at the rest of the ponies. "AHAHA!" "ENOUGH!" Princess Luna's horn grew bright, and she fired a blast at Sonic Spark. She fell to the ground... "Sonic... Sonic Spark.... you claim to be an agent of darkness, and nothing more than an illusion. But somewhere deep inside you there is a good and decent pony. Alphion will not spare you when he destroys Equestria, this is your chance to redeem yourself. Help us get to him, and we will end him." Princess Luna stood over Sonic Spark, waiting for her answer. ******************************************************************************************** "AHHHHHHHHH!!" Rainbow Dash was screaming, this pain was too much for her to bare. The freezing cold air was freezing and paralyzing her body. She didn't know how much she could endure... but it didn't matter, she was FORCED to endure everything.... Alphion wasn't joking.... this was real torture. "That's it Rainbow dash..... feel the pain.... Get used to it.... Because you're never getting out of here." Screaming In AgonyAlphion has me. I failed to save Equestria, now forever I am locked in his nightmare. Death will never free me from this. It's Alphion's nightmare, his world, his rules.... and according to him... I will suffer for eternity. ****************************************************************************************************** "Hmmm... what to do with you next..." Fluttershy's illusion walked around Rainbow Dash who was chained to the wall. "y...................y........o..........u....................b..............i....t...c..........h" Rainbow Dash could barely utter a single word. It was impossible for her to even move. Fluttershy walked up to the battered Pegasus. "Shut up..." The deranged Pegasus turned around and bucked Rainbow Dash into the wall. Even for an illusion of Fluttershy, she wasn't the slightest bit graceful. "Hmmmmm.... oooo aha! That'll work" The scenery began to change again. Rainbow Dash looked up, she was no longer chained to the wall, instead all of her hooves had been chained to rotating gears. Below her was a pool, filled with water it had to be at least 20 feet deep, she couldn't even see the bottom. "Looks fun doesn't it?" Fluttershy reached for the lever and pulled it. Rainbow Dash was slowly lowered down into the pool. She dipped one hoof into the pool and her heart skipped a beat. The water was ridiculously cold. She had reached the bottom of the pool about a minute later. She heard Fluttershy's voice. "Try and get out." Again she heard her menacing laugh. "Good luck...." ********************************************************************************************************* "Well Sonic Spark? Will you help us?" ".............." She didn't utter a single word. "O...ok... I... will. But only if you promise you'll keep me safe from Alphion. If he founds out I've betrayed him, he'll kill me. Since I don't have a true Element of Harmony inside me, he can easily do so." "That is correct, my dear Sonic Spark..." Alphion said as he rose up from the floor of the library. "Sorry lady's am I interrupting?" "Back up Alphion." Celestia stepped forward, shielding Sonic Spark for whatever attack Alphion was planning to unleash. "Ahh the fearless Princess Celestia I assume. Now little Princess, step aside I must speak to my associate over here." "You're not going to touch her." "Hmph, I asked nicely." Alphion put his hand out forward... raised Princess Celestia into the air and prepared to launch her back when suddenly... "Alphion put her down... I'll come quietly......" Sonic Spark stood up. "No Sonic Spark...." "Princess Celestia... Luna told me I could redeem myself, by letting you are any pony else in this room get hurt because of me, that would be a huge step backwards. Alphion isn't leaving without me, it's better if no pony else gets hurt when he does." Princess Celestia was astonished at the pony's sudden attitude change. "A wise choice my dear Sonic Spark, come.... we have something to discuss." Alphion put the Alicorn Princess down. A dark portal formed on a wall behind Alphion. "Come...." Alphion entered the portal... and before Sonic Spark entered, she tossed an purple amulet at Princess Celestia. She entered the portal... "What is that Princess Celestia?" Twilight Sparkle was confused, she had never seen Sonic Spark ever wearing or even holding that amulet. "This I would imagine, is our only ticket to Alphion's nightmare. Twilight, check for a book on Alphion, see if there is anything in there about an amulet." ***************************************************************************************************** "FLUTTERSHY!!" Fluttershy's illusion trembled as Alphion's voice thundered. "Release Rainbow Dash.... now!" "Y...y...yes master" Rainbow Dash was taken out of the pool and unchained. She was shaking vigorously from the freezing cold water. The scenery changed, back into the frozen wasteland. There was no more wind or snow falling from the sky. What was going on, Alphion was relieving her. Something was wrong. "Now Rainbow Dash, you're probably wondering whats going on. Well I'll let some pony else explain it for me." Alphion disappeared and Sonic Spark rose up from the shadows. "You........" The cyan Pegasus was still too weak, she could still barely stand. "Wait.... Rainbow Dash... please, listen to me" "Why should I listen to a word you say... I see what's going on. Alphion obviously doesn't need you anymore." "No.. No Rainbow Dash that's not it." "The only thing stopping me from killing you right now is the hours of pain that I've just endured." "No... don't that's exactly what Alphion want's you to do. Alphion feeds and gains power off of the darkness, fear and torture in any living thing's soul. He's using you.... to get stronger. If you give in to him... he'll grow too powerful and no pony will be able to stop him." "I don't.... believe you. I will never listen to a word you say. Ever." "RAINBOW DASH! Don't you get it! He knows how stubborn you are, all of this... it was all planned out! It's been inevitable from the start. He knows you won't listen to me, and you killing me will make him stronger. The only way to stop him is to not give in!" "Don't give in? Do you realize how long... I've been resisting, how long I've been being tortured? At this point, any relief he'll give me for whatever reason, I'll be glad to take it." The cyan Pegasus stood up, and slowly walked towards Sonic Spark. "Wait... Rainbow Dash, I know what you're going to do, and I won't fight you, I know I can't win. But if you do this you...." Sonic Spark didn't get a chance to finish. Twilight Sparkle's illusion appeared behind her. "Silence......." Twilight said and a purple beam shot out of her eye sockets and hit Sonic Spark. The yellow and black maned Pegasus couldn't speak. Twilight had muted her. "Do it Rainbow Dash..... do it...." Her voice echoed as she faded away. **************************************************************************************************** "That's it Celestia! Right here." Twilight had found a book on Alphion, inside the book there was a picture of the small purple amulet. "What does it say about the amulet Twilight?" Rarity was eager to hear how to use the amulet. She had grown as impatient as Rainbow Dash herself. "Rarity calm down, give Twilight a minute." "Thank you Applejack, now ok. The Amulet of Screaming Agony, legend has it that this amulet is possessed by the one and only Alphion, the Nightmare Inducer. The power contained within this amulet give's the holder the power to transfer a pony into a nightmare. The nightmare itself will not harm the pony's physical body, and the nightmare's conjured by it are not nearly as powerful as Alphion's. It can also be used by ponies to transport themselves into Alphion's nightmare. However no pony in the real world knows how it operates. Alphion and any of his subject's can use it with ease. But it's trigger is unknown to any pony of the real world." "That's it?" "Hang on, there's more on the next page." "While some believe there is no trigger. It is possible that Nightmare Moon, who possesses nearly the same powers as Alphion, can access the power of the amulet." Everyone looked at Princess Luna. "Well, I do still control the same powers of Nightmare Moon, I however have chosen not to use them. But it couldn't hurt to try." "Well what are we waitin fo'? Let's get to it." Applejack said. ************************************************************************************************* Rainbow Dash stared into Sonic Spark's eyes. She still could not speak because of Twilight's spell. "...................I don't care how weak I feel right now, I'd kill you anyway no matter how weak I am. What's stopping me, is what happened with Blitz. I thought she was a horrible deceiving pony, and when I saw what had done to her, I wished I could have just died on the spot." "I'm disappointed you feel that way Rainbow Dash." Alphion rose up from a dark hole in the floor. "But since you do, I guess I'll have to do this myself." Alphion raised his palm, and fired a blast of shadow at Sonic Spark. She fell to the floor. "NO!" Rainbow Dash charged over to Sonic Spark's body. She was dead, instantly killed by Alphion's blast. "It's your turn now Rainbow Dash." His eye's lit up red, and the cyan Pegasus collapsed. She opened her eyes, everything was blurry. Staring straight at her above her was Pinkie Pie's illusion. Unmoving..... she just stared at her and laughed maniacally. The petrified Pegasus stood up and started walking slowly. Surrounding her were all 5 illusions of her friends, all of them laughing. Everything was so blurry, even her hearing. Then something rose up from the floor again. Blitz... it was Blitz. But... no it couldn't be. Alphion had made an illusion of her to. Hey eye's were missing, just like the rest of the illusions. Her mouth was sown shut, and she had bruises and scars, exactly the spots where Rainbow had hit her. Blood oozed out of her empty eye sockets. The cyan Pegasus' heart stopped, she couldn't take anymore of this. She heard a voice echoing in the distance. "Come Rainbow Dash..... follow me." It was Blitz's voice, but her illusion was standing in front of her, she couldn't possibly talk, her mouth was sown shut. Blitz's illusion starting walking. The cyan Pegasus didn't want to move, but she felt herself being forced to follow. Occasionally, the cyan Pegasus heard a little electrical spark, where was she going? What was going on. "AHHH!" Rainbow's sight went black for a second and she saw Fluttershy being stabbed and tortured by Alphion. Blood was dripping from her head and body. Dash's vision returned, she was still following Blitz. Her sight went black again, then she saw Alphion, standing over Fluttershy's mangled body, laughing. Again, her vision returned.... Where was she going...... She kept following Blitz, then she felt herself falling. She blacked out mid-fall. *************************************************************************************************** Luna's horn grew a bright purple, she used her powers and lifted the amulet into the air. It began to glow as well. The amulet fired a beam at the wall and a portal opened. "Ok let's go!" "Wait. My little ponies, there is something I must say first. I have no idea what you will see on the other side of this portal. I cannot leave Equestria unattended, so Princess Luna will be accompanying you. And one more thing." Princess Celestia reached for her saddlebag. She pulled out a case, it was the case that contained the Elements of Harmony. "Here my little ponies, you may need this. Good luck to you." "Thank you Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle said, and took the case from Celestia. "Let's go save our friend girls." *************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash awoke, in a grassy field. "This..this is. No it can't be." She was staring at Ponyville. How could... what was going on. The confused Pegasus started walking towards the small town. She passed by the school where the Cutie Mark Crusader's and every pony else was playing in the schoolyard. Every pony was having a good time. Then suddenly, the sky turned dark and clouds formed over Ponyville. It began to rain and thunder. Ponies everywhere were running around in fear. Then Alphion and an army black shadows rose up. They moved the city, striking every pony in their path. Rainbow chased after them, her vision began to blur again. She looked around her, dead ponies covered the ground. Blood was flowing through the city like a river, the rain began to pick up. "Rainbow Dash!" The cyan Pegasus turned around, she saw Scootaloo running towards her. "Scootaloo!" Then a black shadow rose up from the ground and grabbed Scootaloo. "No..." Rainbow Dash couldn't move. The shadow grabbed Scootaloo and began to choke her. Scootaloo gagged and screamed in pain until she fell, lifeless to the ground. All around her, ponies were being slaughtered and massacred by Alphion's army. The cyan Pegasus went insane, screaming as loud as she could. The sights were unbearable. She felt a sharp pain in her throat, but she continued to scream. She collapsed to the floor. Alphion walked over to her. "You like what you see?" Alphion held Scootaloo's bloodied and battered body in the rainbow maned Pegasus' face. He raised his hand, and lowered Rainbow Dash into the ground..... Alphion returned her to the frozen wasteland. The same spot where Sonic Spark was killed. "Rainbow Dash.... I left Sonic Spark with you for a reason. You were supposed to kill her, and I thought that you would... but apparently you didn't. That disappoints me, i relieved you from Fluttershy's torture, but you defied my orders. You're stuck here forever, do what I tell you to do and this will be a lot easier for you." "Never... I'll never listen to you." "I'm sorry to hear that..." Alphion faded away, and Blitz's illusion rose up from the ground. "Whatever's next, I can take it, I won't give in...." A voice echoed in the distance... It was Blitz's "They way you made me suffer....... It is going to be returned to you.............You'll be begging for mercy........ Your screams of agony...shall echo throughout Equestria, and bring it's denizens to their knees..............." In the Shadow of DeathI can't.... I just can't anymore..... I haven't even been here long, but.... it's just unbearable. I've only been back in Alphion's nightmare for 3 days.... it's been worse than the first time I was here. Sometimes in here I would feel moments where I was strong, others I would feel like giving up. My emotions constantly conflicting, but... I simply can take no more..... I just can't............. ***************************************************************************************************** "Get up!" Rainbow Dash crawled away from Blitz's illusion. She was beaten badly, Blitz wouldn't let up. Although her mouth was sown shut, the cyan Pegasus heard her voice booming inside her head. "I SAID GET UP!" Dash stood up. Blitz turned around and bucked Dash with extreme force, she fell to the ground again. Blitz walked over to her and jumped on her chest. "DON'T LIKE IT DO YOU! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WENT THROUGH!" Blitz picked up Rainbow and began to choke her, then tossed her on the ground. Blood stained the icy floor....Rainbow Dash was bleeding insanely fast, if she was mortal she would have died long ago... but that is no longer possible. She would live forever in Alphion's nightmare... forever. ****************************************************************************************************** Twilight woke up... in a frozen wasteland. Beside her was Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Princess Luna. "Wh..where are we?" Fluttershy said nervously. "We're in Alphion's nightmare my dear Fluttershy. This is where Rainbow Dash has been held." "Well how are we supposed to find her? This scenery seems to go on forever." Applejack muttered. "We'll just need to start looking!" Rarity said as she began to walk. They began to here an echo in the wind.... "GET UP!!! HAVE YOU FELT ENOUGH YET!! I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE!!" Fluttershy began to cower... "Was that? No it can't be. It sounds like Blitz!" Applejack said. "Ooooo Blitz is still alive! Yay!" Pinkie Pie, being in the most dangerous situation of her life still had her perky attitude. "Come on girls...." Princess Luna led the way as they walked towards the echoing voice. "Stop..... you will go no further...." Alphion flew up from the ground. "So..... you managed to make it here... I assume that Sonic Spark left you the amulet." "Yes Alphion... and we've come to defeat you... once and for all." Luna bravely said stepping forward. "Ahhh the fearless Princess Luna... I assumed they would send you. Look at you, you were once a powerful being of darkness and despair, but look at you now." "Alphion... even as Nightmare Moon my goal was never to harm and kill innocent ponies." "Sorry you feel that way. I offered you a great deal... but now you shall all pay the price." Alphion formed a dark hole under the 6 ponies... they all fell, down into Alphion's Lair. The six ponies awoke. "Now now..... I have a little game for you girls... but with a game there come rules..." Alphion raised his palm and picked up Princess Luna, and pulled her over to him. Then the illusions of Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie appeared. "These... are the 5 illusions that have tortured your dear Rainbow Dash beyond belief. I believe you can assume what you have to do." The illusions stepped forward... "I won't allow this!" "Shutup....." Alphion struck Luna and she passed out. "Good luck.... my little ponies..." Luna said before she blacked out. **************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash was no longer even trying to stand. "I SAID GET UP!" Blitz was ordering her to stand, but it was impossible... "YOU ASKED FOR IT!" Blitz stomped hard on the cyan Pegasus' head. Her mane was no longer rainbow. The blood had stained it very bad... her cyan coat was turning purple from all the blood. Dash blacked out.... she opened her eyes.. she was seeing an image of her friends, fighting Alphion's illusions. She heard Luna's voice. "Rainbow Dash.... don't give up... all hope isn't lost... we've come for you... but right now we need your help.... please... don't give in." The cyan Pegasus awoke, feeling empowered that there was still hope for Equestria. She stood up and struck Blitz.... "Your not Blitz..." She struck her again... "All you are... Is one of Alphion's.... damned illusions." She picked up an ice shard from the floor and jammed it straight into Blitz's head. Blitz howled in pain. As she began to fade Rainbow Dash jumped onto her... fading into Alphion's lair with her. **************************************************************************************************** Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie had all collapsed. These illusions were too strong. They had no idea how Rainbow Dash could have endured all of this pain. Alphion had even made it so that Twilight's magic would not work, but her illusion could. It wasn't a fair fight and they couldn't win. Then Twilight remembered something... "Get up girls... Remember what Sonic Spark told us... any pony with an Element of Harmony inside of them... cannot be slain by Alphion or any of his illusions." "Dammit Sonic Spark.... I should have killed her before she mouthed off to them." Then all of a sudden, Blitz's illusion appeared in the middle of the fight between the ponies and there illusions. Rainbow Dash was still holding on to her... "RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie shouted as she saw her friend appear. "Ughh..... I'm ok Pinkie...." Alphion had a serious look on his face now. He was obviously infuriated. "Hmmph... Enough girls..." His illusions faded back into the ground... Alphion stepped forward. "I've had enough of your little game...." Alphion began firing huge blasts of shadow and flame at the girls... Princess Luna stood up and bucked Alphion and he fell to the floor... She ran back over to the 6 ponies. The smoke cleared... and all off the ponies were still standing... except for Rainbow Dash... "Rainbow Dash!" "No.... it's ok... I'm fine." "Here girls..." Luna handed Twilight the case with the 6 Elements of Harmony. The 6 ponies put on the elements... and fired a blast at Alphion... He roared in pain. He fell to the ground, unmoving. "So that's it.... It's over?" Pinkie Pie said. "No... look!" Twilight said as Alphion stood up... "AGAIN!" "Wait........" Alphion said as he stood up. He was too weak to fight back. Rainbow Dash collapsed again. "Before you end me.. I want to tell you all something... Your friend Rainbow Dash has suffered injuries that would have relieved any mortal with death by now. She is beyond recovery.... If I am defeated... and she returns to the mortal world in this state.... she will die." Every pony was shocked. Is what Alphion said true? "Princess Luna..." Twilight said as she looked at her. Luna didn't say anything.... she nodded her head... a tear coming out of her eye. "It can't be true... it just can't be......" Tears of the Lost"Before you end me.. I want to tell you all something... Your friend Rainbow Dash has suffered injuries that would have relieved any mortal with death by now. She is beyond recovery.... If I am defeated... and she returns to the mortal world in this state.... she will die." Those were the words uttered by Alphion.... that changed my life... If Alphion was defeated I would die, if he wasn't I would remain tortured in his nightmare while he regained his strength again to envelop Equestria in it too.... I couldn't win.... from the start....It was all planned out.... All of it.... ************************************************************************************************************ "So.... make your choice..." Twilight looked at her friend Rainbow Dash... she had lost her once, she didn't want to lose her again, but either way she would.... Alphion began to stand up... If they didn't decide soon... Alphion would take them all out and they would lose their chance. Every pony looked at Rainbow Dash... who was still barely strong enough to stand... She looked back at them. She nodded her head... "Let's end this...." "R....Rainbow Dash...." Fluttershy said. "For Equestria.... we must do this... Regardless of the cost." They all nodded their heads. Another beam shot out of the elements, striking Alphion. Alphion roared in pain, he floated into the air and faded away, banished forever. Then all the ponies rose up, out of the nightmare. "WE DID IT WE DID IT!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she hopped up and down. "PINKIE PIE!" Applejack yelled at Pinkie Pie. "Ugh........" Rainbow Dash was in horrible shape, she didn't have much time left. "Don't worry Rainbow Dash... were gonna get you to a hospital... it'll be ok." Twilight said. "No...... there's not enough time.... just listen....." The cyan Pegasus was barely moving... her voice was faint. "Applejack.... you've always been a great friend to me. Straight forward and honest, you're strong and you were great competition...I'll never forget you." "I'll (sniff) never forget'ya either RD." "Pinkie Pie.... no matter what the situation.... you could always make me smile.... Please.. hold on to that, make sure Ponyville remains a joyful place where every pony can live in happiness." "I......I..I'll make sure of it Dashie.... "Fluttershy.... you were always a kindhearted spirit. Always loving and caring for every single living creature in this world." "I...." Fluttershy couldn't finish her sentence she was to busy crying. "Rarity... you were always so generous. No matter what any pony said, you always tried to make them happy. If they didn't like you decisions, you would swallow your pride and respect their opinion." "Oh Rainbow.... thank you... I'm going to miss you so very much...." "Twilight.... you were always good at giving advice and help. When any pony needed something you were always there for them, especially me when I got mixed up in my stupid stunts." "Oh Rainbow Dash....." Just then..... a two figures appeared over... they were Pegasi.... wait.... it was Sonic Spark and Blitz. No it wasn't them, it was their spirits, coming down to see Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash...." Blitz said. "I didn't know you for very long.... and I'm sorry about what Alphion did to you. You jumped to the conclusion that I was his agent, I can see why. I forgive you for what you did, and I'm sorry what you had to go through." "Th...thank you Blitz..." "Rainbow.. Rainbow Dash... I'm sorry.... this is all my fault... If I had only realized... this never would have happened... I... I'm sorry...." "It's ok Sonic Spark.... I forgive you..." The cyan Pegasus grew weaker... and weaker... "Every pony.......... even though you're memories of me were wiped from existence... you're still my friends... and I won't forget you....." The cyan Pegasus closed her eyes.... for the last time in her life. Every pony's eyes began to water. Their friend, who had they for so long, was replaced by another pony, and now that Alphion was defeated, she was dead. "I...can't believe she's gone...." Fluttershy said softly. Blitz and Sonic Spark's spirit even began to shed tears. Twilight and her friends spread Rainbow Dash's story all throughout Equestria. 4 days later.... It was a hot summer day, but regardless of the weather, everyone was wearing black. Rainbow Dash's casket was lowered down into the ground. She was buried next to the tree where she used to sleep all time. Every pony left, except for Fluttershy. "................I'm sorry.................." She said softly and began to walk away, crying. **************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash opened her eyes... "Wh...where am I?" She looked around her. There was a soft cool breeze blowing, the sky was blue with not a single cloud. Bright green grass colored the floor. She looked in the distance and there seemed to be other ponies there. She walked over to them. These... these were spirits. "So this? This is where you go when you die?" "Yes...." The cyan Pegasus turned around, it was Blitz "Blitz!?" Blitz smiled and tilted her head slightly at Rainbow Dash... "Come on... let me show you around." Dash followed Blitz, glad that she wouldn't be totally alone in this world. "You'll find that this place isn't much different than the regular world. The only downside is.... there are ponies here from waaay back, so it's a little difficult to make friends. Since we had such different lifestyles." "It's ok Blitz, we'll find a way to manage. And again.... sorry that you're here because of me, it really is my fault, if I hadn't been so headstrong and so quick to jump to conclusions, neither of us would be here right now." "Again Rainbow Dash... I forgive you, Alphion had planned all this, you couldn't have stopped it, nobody could have." Just then Sonic Spark landed next to them. "Yea I could have stopped this. If only I realized, you two wouldn't be here, just me, but I deserve it." "No you don't... trust me Sparkie, you couldn't have stopped Alphion, not by yourself. Let's just be glad he's gone." Sonic Spark's ears perked up, no pony had ever called her "Sparkie" before, she kind of liked it. The air grew quiet and the wind stopped. The 3 ponies looked behind them. There was no one there, then they began to here a voice. "Hi girls..... have fun while you can, but the nightmare.... isn't over yet........." The Dark Knows No BoundsIt's been three weeks, I have arrived in this, spirit world after I was released from Alphion's nightmare. However, after I arrived here.... me, Blitz and Sparkie, we have gotten used to calling her that, heard that voice. A strange voice... saying that the nightmare wasn't over. But it's not possible... he was banished by the Elements of Harmony. We thought we were just hearing things so we ignored it. And moved on with our "after" lives. ******************************************************************************************* "Hey... Rainbow Dash!" The cyan Pegasus awoke, she opened her eyes with Sonic Spark flashing a creepy smile in her face. "Ahhh!" she yelped "Haha... gotcha!" Dash stood up. "Uhh yea you got me.. haha" "Something wrong Dash?" "No... it's just, I feel so empty you know? I mean I've known Twilight and them for so long and now they're gone." "I'm sorry RD. In a way, all three of us were close to them." "Yea......." "Well come on. A nice day at the park will cheer you up! Come on, Blitz is waiting for us." A few minutes later. "Hey Blitz." "Good morning Rainbow Dash." Blitz was in a good mood, not that that wasn't normal. The three Pegasi spent the day talking, flying around and after a few hours they all laid down on the grass to rest. "(Yawn) Ok girls... I'm gettin tired I'm gonna go get some sleep." Sonic Spark got up and flew away, towards her house. Any time a new pony entered the spirit world, a new house would appear just for them. Blitz rolled over looking at Rainbow Dash... "Hey... Dashie?" The cyan Pegasus hated being called that now. It reminded her too much of Pinkie Pie. But Blitz and Sonic Spark had their own reasons to be upset too, so she didn't want to point it out. It would just make it look like Dash was looking for sympathy, and she was never one to like sympathy. "What is it Blitz?" "Well... there was something I wanted to tell you..." Blitz inched closer to the rainbow maned Pegasus. This wasn't the first time though, back in Ponyville Park, she did the same thing before Rainbow Dash flew away. "What?" "Well... I kinda.." She couldn't finish her sentence. Suddenly the sky turned black and thunder began to roar. They looked behind them and every pony was rushing into their homes. Then, cyan Pegasus' worst fears were imagined. Alphion.... rose up from the ground... laughing menacingly. "Ahahaha... I'm back Rainbow Dash. Did you really think you could escape? You're going to suffer in my nightmare forever. No Elements of Harmony can save you... and since you're already dead, should I somehow be defeated again, I can simply come get you again. You have one day... but tomorrow, you return to my nightmare." Alphion faded away. Rainbow Dash stood there with here eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "No.....No....NO!!" ************************************************************************************************ "Dashie.... I...." "Save it Blitz......." Blitz and Dash were sitting in Sonic Spark's house. How could Alphion still be alive... the Elements of Harmony worked on Nightmare Moon and Discord, why not Alphion? Wait... there was a reason... Nightmare Moon was simply a dark prison for Princess Luna... the Elements broke the prison and freed Luna. With Discord, it banished him BACK into his stone prison. There was nothing that could contain Alphion, he was never imprisoned. Since he had nowhere to be banished to, he would remain here forever. Rainbow Dash got up... and started to walk back to her house. "......I can't believe after all this.....all we've gone through, it was still for nothing." Sonic Spark said. Blitz was silent, two times she had tried to confess her true feelings for Dash, and both times she was interrupted. But that wasn't important right now, what's important was that she had to help Rainbow, she couldn't let her suffer in that nightmare forever. Not after all she had already been through. "Rainbow Dash! Wait." The cyan Pegasus didn't slow down, she rose into the air and dashed off.. and poof she was gone. Blitz began to cry.... if she didn't find Dash soon, she would never see her again. The cyan Pegasus landed.. she sat down on the light green grass. It was getting dark out... but she was too tired to go back. She laid down on the grass and fell asleep. It was at least 6 hours since Rainbow Dash flew away. Blitz had been flying around searching for her nonstop... eventually she went back to town, in hope of getting some help from Sonic Spark. "Blitz? You look terrible." "I've been up looking for Dashie, I can't find her anywhere. If we don't do something... we'll never see her again." "I know... I didn't get any sleep last night either. Come on.... let's go find her." Blitz and Sparkie searched for hours. Then at last they saw a cyan figure laying down in the distance. It was Dash! They instantly bolted toward her... when the sky grew dark. "Ahahaha.... the time has come Rainbow Dash.....Come...." "She's not going anywhere!" Sonic Spark stepped forward. "Yea!" Blitz stood next to Sonic Spark. "Uggh, I don't have time for this...." Alphion raised his palm and raised Blitz and Sonic Spark into the air. "Ahk'naa shith ar'aan" They had no idea what the hell he just said. It sounded like he was speaking a different language. However then a dark beam shot out of Alphion's palm striking Blitz and SonicSpark... they seemed to be fading. Rainbow Dash didn't know what was happening, but she couldn't let this continue. "Wait.... stop Alphion." Alphion lowered his palm. "Come..." Alphion opened up a portal... and began to walk through it. Rainbow Dash turned around. "It's ok girls.....I'll be fine.." "Wait Rainbow Dash!" The cyan Pegasus smiled and walked into the portal, she faded into the swirling black vortex. "R...Rai...." Blitz bursted out crying. Sonic Spark even began to shed tears. She patted Blitz on the head. "It's ok Blitz.... we'll.... we'll find a way to get her out of there." Blitz didn't feel any better. How could they stop Alphion, the only things capable of defeating him were proved useless. Blitz didn't know how to describe it but she... ever since she laid eyes on Rainbow Dash...... "Come on... let's try and find some help." ************************************************************************************************ "Welcome back Rainbow Dash... you remember this place don't you?" It was the same room where Rainbow first met Alphion. She didn't reply to Alphion's question. "Well, you've shown so much resistance and so much strength. I figured leaving you in my nightmare would be a waste. What say you take Sonic Sparks place? Be my agent in the fields of darkness." The cyan Pegasus couldn't believe what she was hearing. Alphion was offering her relief from all the torture, all she had to do was assist him, she would take Sonic Spark's old place. But she couldn't do that, she would be betraying Equestria, fighting everything she had fought so hard to protect. "Alphion... I would rather suffer for the rest of eternity, than help you take over Equestria." "I assumed that's what your answer would be, since I am still too weak to conjure a new agent, I will simply have to take one... I wonder if Fluttershy is available? Or maybe Applejack? Or Rarity? Who knows...! Ahahahaha." Alphion let out a menacing laugh. Rainbow Dash flinched... he was going to get one of her friends to help him, but they wouldn't agree to that! Right? "Well Rainbow Dash... you know where it's time to go now don't you?" "Hi Rainbow Dash..." A pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the distance as the soft graceful voice echoed throughout Alphion's lair. ************************************************************************************************* 1 week later.... Blitz was a total wreck, Rainbow Dash was gone. And what was worse than that? She couldn't do anything about it! She would live in this spirit world forever in peace, while Rainbow Dash was tortured and Alphion slowly devoured Equestria. Then the rest of the ponies would feel the same torture, and never feel the relief of death. She admitted it to herself... she loved Rainbow Dash.... she wouldn't stop until she was back. "Rainbow Dash is in danger, Equestria will soon fall to darkness... come on Sparkie, we need to do something." "You got it, let's go." Dead AirThe air in Ponyville was dull and lifeless. Without Rainbow Dash every day life was boring and gray. She would normally be the one to clear clouds on a daily basis. Pinkie Pie tried to keep her promise and keep the citizens happy. It was useless, she couldn't bring the sun out every morning, and with her friend missing, it was impossible to feel joy herself. Alphion was gone.... but nothing was better, they were worse than before... ************************************************************************************** Sonic Spark and Blitz spread word of Rainbow Dash's disappearance. Most of these spirit ponies either didn't care, or didn't try to do anything about it. There was no leader or ruler of the spirit world they could go to. At least, there was no known ruler. "What are we supposed to do Blitz, no one will even believe us! Remember Alphion is still unknown to everyone here, he is only known to the living ponies of Equestria and us..." "I have no idea Sparkie, but if we give up now, Rainbow Dash is going to suffer for eternity. We live forever here, we can't just give up after a few days." Blitz and Sonic Spark walked out of town and went to the spot where they used to hang out with Dash. They both laid down and thought about what they could do next. Then... a dark swirling vortex appeared in the distance. It moved closer to the two Pegasi. It stopped in front of them... under it was the shadow... of a pony, and alicorn to be exact. "Hello Blitz.... Sonic Spark." **************************************************************************************** "Fluttershy!" "Y...yes master Alphion." "Where's Rainbow Dash, there's something I want her to see." "Ok...." Fluttershy's illusion faded away. "Rainbow Dash...." The cyan Pegasus spun around and saw Fluttershy's illusion walking toward her. She backed away from the deranged Pegasus. "Relax Dashie.... I'm not here to hurt you, Alphion has requested I bring you to him." "Get out of here, I'm not helping him in whatever the hell he wants." Fluttershy didn't answer, instead she grabbed Rainbow Dash and they both faded into the ground. "Hello Rainbow Dash...." "What do you want from me now...." She cursed under her breath. "Come over here... I wish to show you something." The rainbow maned Pegasus didn't move. "Oh come on, now you're just being a pest." Alphion used his powers and pulled her toward him. Alphion raised both his palms and closed his eyes. "Aghh." Rainbow Dash felt a sudden headache come on. She was beginning to see illusions. No... it was a vision, of Blitz? and Sonic Spark? Wait, there was one more pony, it was white and had a black mane. It's horn was broken in half and it had long wings, wings Rainbow Dash had never seen before. Who was this mysterious white alicorn? "Who... who is that?" Rainbow Dash said. "Well... I was preparing to persuade your friend Fluttershy into helping me," Alphion laughed under his breath. "But then... I saw this pony, scouring the Everfree forest. His name is Black Flare, he is one of the few alicorns that live in Equestria. But no pony knew who he was, I offered him a chance to stand by me, and rule the very people who neglected him. His powers have elevated beyond any other alicorns, and the darkness has overpowered his souls, making his eyes completely black." "Why.... why is there with Blitz, and Sparkie?" "You'll see..." **************************************************************************************** "Wh...who are you?" Blitz asked. "My name, is Black Flare." "Why are you here! Give us answers!" Sonic Spark said. "I'm here to deliver a message, from Alphion!" Black Flare rose into the air, and a dark pulse shot out from his body. The air turned quiet and dark, and the wind stopped blowing. The grass turned a dark gray color, the dark alicorn landed. "Like what you see?" His eyes were practically emanating shadows. He took a step closer to Blitz. Blitz and Sonic Spark both backed away. Black Flare shook his head lightly. He faded away. "Wh..what?" He reappeared in front of the two Pegasi. He lifted his to front hooves and two dark beams shot out striking both of them. "Stop your search for Alphion.." He said as he turned around. "Or you'll see me again later." He faded away into the dead air of the spirit world. ************************************************************************************************** "Hahahaha." Alphion laughed as he walked away from Dash. "Oh... Rainbow Dash I forgot to tell you something." The cyan Pegasus raised her head. "Since... my power is still recovering after your feeble attempt to stop me, you won't be returning to the nightmare at least not now. I'd rather have you healthy when you see Equestria devoured by darkness...." He faded away and Fluttershy's illusion was standing behind him. "Follow me...." The cyan Pegasus followed, willing to do anything if it meant not returning to that nightmare. They entered a small dark room... "You're staying here until Master Alphion says otherwise." Rainbow Dash walked in and was knocked to the ground by Fluttershy. "Have fun..." She giggled as she walked out. The cyan Pegasus looked around, there was nothing in this room. It was just like a black box she was trapped inside of. She laid down, trying to at least get some sleep. **************************************************************************************************** "Errrgh, Blitz? Are you ok?" "Yea... I'm fine." The two Pegasi stood up. They looked up at the sky, it had turned black and the ground was an ash gray color. All of the flowers and trees had disappeared. They looked behind them, the town was the same but every pony didn't look to happy about the changes. "What are we supposed to do now?" Sonic Spark asked. "I don't know.... We've done everything we could and we got no positive results." "We need to think of something..." "I know I know... Let's just... call it a day, I'll see you tomorrow." Blitz and Sonic Spark tried for weeks to find a way to save their friend. After 3 weeks Sonic Spark had given up. Blitz continued for 2 months trying to do something. Eventually she just collapsed from exhaustion. "It's over Blitz.... we can't do anything else.... Dash is gone." Blitz started to cry... It couldn't end, not like this. She couldn't lose Dash after all she went through to find her. She imagined the cyan Pegasus being tortured back in Alphion's nightmare with no hope of escaping. "But... maybe we could..." "NO BLITZ! I hate this too, but there is nothing we can do. No pony will believe us, no pony will help us, there's no access to him from here, it's over. Get up and go get some sleep, you're a wreck." Blitz ran off crying. That reminded Sonic Spark of something. Although she was technically a fake pony, she still had all of Rainbow Dash's memories... she saw everything. As she clicked through images in her mind, she saw something... Something that could save Rainbow Dash.... ************************************************************************************************** The cyan Pegasus was completely destroyed. She hadn't been allowed out of this room for years, no maybe it wasn't years, maybe months or weeks or just a few days. She couldn't tell the difference. All she did was sleep, when she woke up she attempted to go back to sleep. Until images in her mind began to run and she couldn't stop crying. Thinking about her friends and the life she used to have before all this. At this point, she would be happy to be in the nightmare, because this was torture on its own. "Oh Rainbow Dash... it's time." The rainbow maned Pegasus didn't move. The door opened and Alphion entered. "My powers have returned to their maximum strength, come." Rainbow Dash stood up and followed Alphion. They entered the main chamber of his lair, not that it looked much different, all the walls, the floor and the ceiling was black. He waved his arm and an image appeared on one of the walls, it was Ponyville. "Prepare Rainbow Dash, for every pony you one knew and loved is about to befall the same fate as you." Alphion raised his arms and they began to glow purple. Then black clouds formed over Ponyville, same as before and black shadows rained down and began dragging ponies down with them. "And after Equestria has been dealt with, the ponies of the spirit world will join us here as well. So no pony, dead or alive is safe from me!" It was over.... Rainbow Dash had failed to do anything. The Elements Harmony failed... The only hope for anything, was whatever Sonic Spark's crazy idea is. It's the only shred of light that is still shining on the existence of ponies. If whatever it is doesn't work... all is lost forever. Fading ShadowsIt's over Alphion has regained his strength and has begun to devour Equestria. His shadows are tearing apart the souls of every pony in Equestria. Dooming them to forever live in this nightmare. This is where it would end... or that's what I thought, we weren't finished yet. ******************************************************************************************* "BLITZ!" Sonic Spark charged into Blitz's house. "What is it Sonic Spark?" "I know how we can do it, I know how we can get to Rainbow Dash!" Bltiz instantly jumped up. "How?" "Since I replaced Dash in history I had all of her memories. We'll get to her the same way she first reached Alphion." "How is that?" "Rainbow Dash tricked Pinkie Pie into fading into Alphion's realm with her. All we need to do is get Black Flare back here. When we do we grab onto him and poof, back into Alphion's nightmare." "Sweet Celestia! That would work! But wait... how are we supposed to get Black Flare to show up again? He said he would return if we continued searching for Rainbow Dash. We continued, but he never showed up." "It was because we had lost faith, we knew we couldn't do anything. We were at a loss from our friend, but now there's hope. Come Blitz, get up. It's time to save Rainbow Dash." ******************************************************************************************* "Applejack run!" Twilight shouted as a shadow nearly landed on her friend. "Jeez Twilight, what are we s'possed to do!?! These thing's are everywhere!" "I don't know Applejack." "Twilight!" Twilight glanced around as she saw Fluttershy and Rarity running towards her. "What's wrong Fluttershy?!" "Pinkie... they got Pinkie!" "What!? Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing, her friend had been captured. She held back tears, determined to save everyone else. "Come on girls... we gotta get out of here!" Shadows rained from the sky, obliterating anything they touched. Twilight looked around her, and all she saw was ponies, unicorns and pegasi alike trying to escape. It was useless no pony could escape. "Sweetie Belle!" Again she turned around and saw Applebloom and Scootaloo trying to pull Sweetie Belle out of a dark hole. "Hang on girls!" Twilight's horn began to glow, and using all her energy pulled Sweetie Belle out of the hole. "Come on girls we need to move now!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders followed as the rest of the ponies ran for the edge of Ponyville. Then suddenly a shadow came flying down aimed directly at Twilight. "Watch out!" She jumped out of the way, she dodged the shadow, but it hit Rarity straight on. She fell into the dark void of Alphion's nightmare. "Rarity!" Applejack said as she saw her friend fall into oblivion. "Come on Applejack we need to move!" She followed, reluctant to leave her friend behind. "Stick together or we'll get picked off one by one!" All the ponies listened, clumping up together. Another shadow plunged towards them. "Every pony jump right now!" They all did, except for Fluttershy who was in the middle and tripped. The shadow struck her and she fell into the dark swirling abyss as well. "Fluttershy!" Twilight began to cry as she was running, no matter what they did, they still got picked off one by one. "There's the edge of Ponyville. Come on every pony we almost made it." "I'm afraid I can't let you do that..." The ponies all came to a screeching halt. A pony rose up from the ground, an alicorn to be exact. It had a white coat, black mane and silver spiked chains were clipped to its legs. "My name... is Black Flare, the agent of Alphion. You're not leaving Ponyville. Ahk'naa shith ar'aan" As those words were uttered a dark beam shot out of the white alicorns cracked horn. It struck the 5 ponies and they all rose into the air. The dark beam crushing their throats. "Good luck... ahahaahahaaa." Black Flare faded away and a shadow plunged at Applejack, Twilight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Applejack stood up and knocked the other ponies away from the blast. They all looked at her... She winked at them and smiled as the shadow dragged her into the abyss. "Applejack!" Applebloom began to cry. The rest of the ponies began to cry as well. Twilight stood up, rubbing her eyes. "Come on girls... we need to keep moving, it's what Applejack would've wanted...." ******************************************************************************************* Rainbow Dash was watching in horror as Alphion destroyed Ponyville and the rest of Equestria. She couldn't do anything... she was too weak to move or even speak. She just stood there, legs wobbling and mouth agape. "Like what you see Rainbow Dash? It's lovely isn't it." She didn't respond, she was too focused on Twilight, still dodging shadows. "Come on Twilight." she thought to herself. ******************************************************************************************* Blitz and Sonic Spark had been spreading word about Rainbow Dash for hours nonstop. No one believed them, they expected that but they need to lure Black Flare here. "I thought I warned you fools!" The dark alicorn rose up from the ground. "But I see you two are as ignorant and stubborn as Rainbow Dash herself. Which is why I'm going to end both of you right now. I will sever your souls from your bodies and incinerate your souls until there is nothing left of you both!" A dark ray shot out of Black Flare's horn. Blitz and Sonic Spark both circled around it, easily dodging it. Every pony else was watching, jaws dropped as they witnessed what was happening. The black maned alicorn lifted his wings and rose into the air. His wings spread bringing down a huge lightning bolt on Blitz. She barely dodged it, the lightning slightly singing her tail. Black pulses began emanating from the alicorn, striking the two Pegasi, knocking them to the ground. They both stood up. Blitz leaned closer to her friend and whispered something into her ear. Sonic Spark nodded her head. Blitz flew up flying circles around Black Flare. He shot a dark ray at her, it was tailing just behind her. Then the alicorn stopped the beam. He turned around and received a hard hoof to the face as Sonic Spark struck him. He fell to the ground. "We got him..." Blitz said. "Not quite..." Sonic Spark charged at the ground where Black Flare landed and charged straight into him, severely injuring him. He stood up, his legs shaking. His horn began to glow... "Now!" Blitz and Sonic Spark both grabbed onto him and all 3 of them faded away... ******************************************************************************************* "Come on girls... don't give up. Please...." It was hopeless, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were all hysterical. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had lost their sisters, while Scootalo had lost her idol Rainbow Dash. Twilight began to cry as well, all of her friends were gone. Alphion hadn't been defeated... he was back and he had claimed everything she loved. Rainbow Dash must have felt the same way..... But she couldn't let it end like this... she was going to make this right and make sure everything returned to normal. "Girls..." The 3 fillies looked up at Twilight. "We're going after them... follow me." They walked back into Ponyville. As Twilight expected... a shadow plunged directly at them. "I'm coming girls... Don't you worry." The shadow struck the four ponies, bringing them all into Alphion's nightmare. ******************************************************************************************* "Well... that's that. All of the ponies of Equestria now reside within my nightmare. And now Rainbow Dash.... it's time for you to join them." The cyan Pegasus faded away, back into the frozen wasteland, back into the nightmare, back.... into hell. "Well.... I'm back...." Then almost instantly, three ponies appeared next her. Blitz, Sonic Spark and Black Flare. "DAMMIT!" Black Flare shouted. His voice echoing throughout the nightmare. "You bastards..... latching onto me screwed up my travel path...." "What?" "Why in hell would I be stupid enough to bring you into Rainbow Dash's Nightmare!" "If only you weren't that stupid...." Alphion said. He rose up from the floor. "Black Flare... you have failed me... You were beaten by these two pegasi, DEAD pegasi... Besides, I have no further use for you anyway... So I might as well end you now." "NO... Alphion!" "Take this!" Alphion fired a dark beam at Black Flare. It struck him straight on. Smoke filled the area, making sight impossible. The smoke cleared and the white alicorn was still standing. "Alphion... you fool. You trusted me too much, granting me all this power has made me equivalent to you!" "Hahahaha..." Alphion merely laughed at the alicorn's threat. Black Flare shot a dark missile at Alphion. The dark lard shrugged it off like it was a paper ball. "I don't trust any pony Black Flare." The alicorn was lifted into the air, as dark beams shot into his throat, crushing it. He fell to the ground. Alphion then turned to the 3 Pegasi. "Since you're stuck here... I have no reason to separate you. Very well, you three will remain together... but be warned. My illusions are still looking for you, I'd get moving if I were you." Alphion faded away, letting out a menacing laugh as he disappeared. Blitz had so many things to say to Rainbow Dash... but now wasn't the time. Instead her and Sonic Spark both gave her a big hug and began to cry. "I'm so glad you're ok." Sonic Spark said, her voice almost drowned out from her crying. "Hey......girls.................." The pegasi turned around and saw Black Flare sprawled out on the ground. "Hmph.. good riddens." "Here........ take this......" Black Flare tossed a purple amulet at them. It was the Amulet of Screaming Agony! "With my power..... I modified it.......... use it....... to find your friends......... and please........stop Alphion..............." The alicorn closed his soulless eyes... and his heartbeat stopped. ".....Come on you two let's go. I still have a shred of Alphion's power in me.... I can activate the amulet. We can use it to get into you're Twilight and the rest of our friends' nightmares." The amulet began to glow and the 3 pegasi disappeared, into their friend's nightmare. They 3 pegasi awoke, in some sort of hedge maze. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. Alphion had brought her here before, this was where she was stabbed by Fluttershy's illusion and strangled by Alphion's psychic torment. There was no doubt that her friends were in trouble. "Come on... let's find them." They rushed through the hedge maze, making sure to stick together. They turned a corner and Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all face to face with their illusions. "Oh no, not them again." Rainbow Dash rushed to her friends. "Rainbow Dash!" The 5 ponies turned around and cheered with excitement as they saw their three winged friends. Then, the illusions of Alphion charged at the 8 ponies. "Watch out!" Twilight pushed the other ponies out of the way, she shot a purple beam at the 5 illusions, striking all of them. "You're not escaping us... not again." The illusion's eye sockets began to glow red. They all stepped closer to Rainbow Dash. Twilight began to step next to Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy's illusion looked at her. Twilight smashed her hooves over her ears. "AHHHH!" Fluttershy was getting into her mind and torturing her from within. Soon, every other pony began to hear a sharp loud screeching in their heads. They all backed away, ignoring whatever the illusion's might be trying to do to Rainbow Dash. "You're all going to die here.... Alphion's power exceeds the Elements of Harmony. We will rip your souls from you bodies and use them and elevate our powers beyond maximum limits. Prepare for a true glimpse, into the future of Equestria." The hedge maze began to burn, the sky turned a dark purple. The clouds began swirling around rapidly. "Enough of this..." Alphion rose up from the ground... "Fluttershy..... My power is great, you're weak and feeble. I have no further use for you..." Alphion raised his hand... and the 5 illusions disappeared. The ponies removed their hooves from their ears, no longer being tortured by the illusions. Alphion's eyes began to glow, every pony and Alphion faded away, back into the main chamber of his lair. "Now girls... it's come to this..." The dark lord looked at Sonic Spark.... "You... I gave you life, strength and you betrayed me. I'm about to return the favor." Alphion disappeared, and reappeared in front of Sonic Spark. He raised his dark fist and struck the Pegasus with extreme force. She collapsed unconscious. "Sparkie!" Blitz began to run towards the pegasus. Alphion pointed his arm at Blitz. She was raised into the air and put back next to her friends. "No, no, no Blitz. Stay there." "What do you want from us Alphion! You did it! You have all of Equestria in this nightmare. Equestria is yours for the taking! What else do you want from us!" the cyan pegasus said. "Well.... since Equestria's mine... the only threat to me ruling it is you. So... you can imagine what's about to happen." The ponies all gulped, this was it. Alphion rose into the air, his eyes emanating shadows... "A'laat ishnu, kreet i'hknon dul'isha!" As Alphion uttered those words he raised his arms and two dark beams shot out of them. They separated into 7 beams each of them striking one of the ponies. "Errgh... What... what is this?" Rainbow Dash felt something... it felt like something was being torn out of her.... That was it.... Alphion was tearing out their souls and using them to empower himself. A pulse began running out of the ponies and into Alphion... his power was increasing. The 7 ponies howled in agony. Sonic Spark opened her eyes... she saw her friends, having their souls destroyed by Alphion... "No.... I helped him do this... I manipulated Rainbow Dash... I did this to my friends... and now.... I'm going to end this...." The pegasus stood up and charged at Alphion's beam. She stood right where the 7 beams conjoined... All of them striking Sonic Spark. The other ponies were dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. Sonic Spark turned around... "Girls... this was my fault. I couldn't let Alphion take your souls... his power is still stored inside me... If he absorbs my souls, he will be destroyed by his own power. Friends... goodbye." "No!" All the ponies said as Sonic Sparks souls was torn from her body and pushed into Alphion. Alphion howled in pain... making horrifying bloodcurdling noises. Parts of him began to fade away... "EERRAH!" His voice thundered as he screeched in pain. He was knocked down... he began to pull himself towards the other ponies. "Burn in hell...." Rainbow Dash said as she looked into Alphion's eyes... The other ponies backed away. Alphion stopped looking straight into Dash's eyes. He didn't say a word... instead he started to laugh, menacingly. He faded away, like dust in the wind... his laugh still echoing. "Well.... it's over isn't it?" The 7 ponies looked up. A beam of light shot down, and a figured descended from above. It looked like some kind of... they didn't know. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. It had the same body style as Alphion except, it was a light yellow and white color. It had large white wings, the size of a full grown colt. "Girls... you each contributed to the fall of Alphion... I must repay you for this..." "Wait... who are you?" Rainbow Dash said. "My name... I am Angealla. Alphion's counterpart. For every dark being such as himself, there must be a counter. That is me. He was the spirit of darkness, and me the spirit of light and the heavens." "Wait... so if you're his counterpart, you could have stopped him the whole time! But instead you watched!" "I wish that was true, Alphion's powers grew beyond my reach when he took Rainbow Dash. Feeding off the darkness in her soul bolstered his powers to triple of mine. Unfortunately, I cannot gain power off the souls of others, so my power remained the same. Even after being weakened by the Elements of Harmony he was still too strong." Every pony was speechless... "Now moving on... For defeating Alphion... I shall return you five to Equestria... And.... as the spirit of light and the heavens... I shall grant Blitz and Rainbow Dash their lives. They will return to Equestria with you." Every pony began to cheer, they all began to hug the two pegasi. "Wait..." Rainbow Dash pulled herself away from her friends. "What about Sonic Spark?" "I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do for her.... her spirit is trapped inside Alphion... and since he has been destroyed... so is her soul... I'm sorry." Angealla raised both of her arms... a light began to glow from them, and the 7 ponies were transferred back to Equestria. 6 months later..... Life in Ponyville returned to normal. "Hey... Blitz..." "What is it Applejack?" "Tell her..." "What? Tell who what?" "Don't play around Blitz, I know how you feel about RD. It's been pretty obvious ever since you both came back." Blitz began to blush... "Come on... go tell her." "Oh...Ok..." Blitz began walking towards Ponyville... ******************************************************************************************* "Hey Pinkie!" "*Yawn* Oh hi Rainbow Dash." Pinkie looked a little tired... what was wrong? "What's wrong Pinkie?" "Oh... I don't know, I couldn't sleep last night... It was weird... I just sat in bed all night and couldn't sleep....." Rainbow Dash's heart stopped, this couldn't be happening..... "Hey Rainbow Dash!" She turned around and saw Blitz running towards her. "I have something to tell you." Dash didn't respond... her eyes looked very wide and she looked pale. "Is something wrong Rainbow Dash?" "No..... nothing....." (The Temporal Shattering is a sequel to this if you want to check it out and see what happens next!)
The Nightmare BeginsMy name... is Rainbow Dash. Yesterday, I was living a normal peaceful life with my friends. But now, all of it has been taken from me, my home, my friends, my life. I wander this frozen, dark abandoned wasteland, in search of something that will lead to me to how and why this has happened. When I was just a filly, I would have nightmares. Somebody would speak to me, warning me of this. I ignored it, assuming it would all pass in time.... I was wrong. "Hey Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash said as she greeted the energetic pink pony. "Hi Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie said as she hopped towards Sugar Cube Corner. It was a nice morning. The sun was out and there were no clouds in sight. Rainbow Dash proceeded to walk through Ponyville, she was too tired this morning to fly. Something had kept her awake last night, she couldn't fathom what it was, she just couldn't sleep. It was a good thing there were no clouds so she didn't have to clear them. As she walked around Ponyville searching for something to do, she noticed Scootaloo and Applebloom running up and down the streets. She asked Scootaloo what was wrong. "Sweetie Belle has gone missing," Scootaloo said. "We been runnin up n' down Ponyville searchin for her, but we ain't had no luck. We ast' around and no pony had seen her anywhere" Applebloom said. They both seemed really worried, Applebloom was almost at the point of crying. Even Scootaloo, the strong headed filly, even looked exhausted. "Thats terrible," Rainbow Dash uttered, "Does Rarity know about this?" "No, we tried to tell her but no pony opened the door when we knocked. We figured she was still sleeping, you know how that pony is always obsessing over her beauty sleep," Scootaloo said rolling her eyes. "Well girls, I'll help you find Sweetie Belle," Rainbow Dash said confidently. Rainbow Dash, Applebloom and Scootaloo searched all of Ponyville. Absolutely no pony had seen Sweetie Belle. Rarity came charging through the streets. "Where is my darling sister Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said with a worried look in her eyes. "We don't know. We been searchin for hours and there ain't been no sight o' her," Applebloom said. Rarity began to cry, her little sister had disappeared and no pony knew where she was. News spread through Ponyville, and massive search parties were sent around Equestria to find the little filly. The cyan pegasus decided that she would be the one brave enough to search the Everfree Forest. As she walked toward the forest a wind began to pick up. Then Rainbow Dash began to hear a very faint voice in the wind. It sounded... like... like Sweetie Belle! "It.... is.... coming......" The pegasus jumped up, obviously frightened. She rushed back to Ponyville to tell every pony what she heard. No pony believed her. Every pony told her to go home and nap, she was just hearing things. She hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, Rainbow figured she was just hearing things. She slowly trotted home, hopefully she would get some sleep tonight and everything would be ok in the morning. Dash woke up the next morning and she felt fine. She rushed to Rarity's house too see if they had found Sweetie Belle. Rarity wasn't home. She asked around Ponyville to see if any pony had seen her white coated friend. Rarity was at Ponyville Hospital. "Why in Equestria would she be at the hospital?" Rainbow asked to herself. She flew over to Ponyville hospital to see Rarity. Rarity was in one of the hospital rooms, kneeling over her sister, Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie Belle!" Rainbow said as she walked over to the battered filly. She was bruised and cut all over her body, and she was shaking vigorously. He lavender mane had turned a dark red and black color. "What happened, Sweetie Belle," Rainbow asked. Sweetie Belle did not reply. Her mouth moved but no sounds came out. "She was found near the edge of the Everfree Forest last night, after you left" Sweetie Belle's traumatized sister said with a tear in her eye. After a few days Sweetie Belle recovered and life in Ponyville returned to normal. Sweetie Belle was asked about what happened to her. All she remembered was that she fell asleep one night, and woke up in the Everfree Forest in a lot of pain. As she exited the forest she collapsed. I thought it was just a random freaky event. No pony knew what happened, or who would do such a thing to Sweetie Belle. There were absolutely no clues, so the investigation was called off. It wasn't just a random event, it was a sign. A sign that the worst, was still yet to come. Life in Ponyville returned to normal after Sweetie Belle returned. In fact, everything was completely perfect. Sweet Apple acres had an amazing Applebuck season, with tons of apples to keep all of the ponies happy. Not a single problem sparked... One day... 4 months after the Sweetie Belle incident "Good morning Tank," Rainbow Dash said as she was greeted by her pet Tortoise. She proceeded to fly off and practice some new flying techniques. Normally, Fluttershy would enjoy watching Rainbow try out her new moves, but she wasn't home when Rainbow Dash arrived. She figured that Fluttershy was out and she would meet with her later. Rainbow spent the day flying around Ponyville, testing new moves and pulling pranks on ponies as they walked by. She noticed Fluttershy slowly walking towards her house. She landed to say hello. "Hi Fluttershy. What's going on I haven't seen you all day." Fluttershy didn't respond, she just kept walking. "Is something wrong Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked trying to find out what was wrong with her friend. "It's nothing... it's just.... I couldn't sleep last night. It was weird, nothing out of the ordinary happened, I just couldn't sleep." Rainbow Dash was confused now, the same thing had happened to her right before Sweetie Belle, "Oh no," she thought. "Uhmm.. ok Fluttershy, hope you sleep better tonight. Gotta Dash!" Rainbow said nervously as she flew off. "This isn't good," she thought. "Ok Rainbow, get it together, nothings gonna happen... everything will be just fine..." Everything wasn't going to be fine. The next morning... that... that was the day where and when the end began. Rainbow Dash woke up the next morning, but something was different. It was morning time, but it was a lot darker than usual. Rainbow proceeded to clear some of the clouds to make the morning brighter. It was fruitless, the black clouds reformed, covering Ponyville in thick dusk. She landed and went to see Twilight, it didn't seem possible to her than clouds could instantly reform like that. Only Twilight would have the answer. As she walked into the library, it seemed quiet and dreary. She walked up the steps to meet her purple braniac friend. Instead, what she saw was dark red bloodstains covering Twilight's bed. The stains led halfway across the room, then ended suddenly. They were in the shape of circles, hoof prints to be exact. On Twilight's bed there was a small piece piece of paper. On it there were a few words written. "We warned you....." As Rainbow Dash read the note a black shadow rushed out of the note and through Rainbow Dash's face. She fell to the ground unconscious. When she woke up there was a picture on the ceiling... a picture of a pony. It was Rarity, the picture was bloodstained and torn. Rainbow knew this meant Rarity was in trouble as well. She rushed to Rarity's house and knocked on the door. Rarity opened the door, "Rainbow, what are you doing here?" Rarity said softly. She had obviously just woken up. "Rarity your never going to believe this! Twilight..." the cyan coated pegasus didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. As she said that, a black shadow rose up from the floor and dragged Rarity down into a small dark hole in the floor. Rainbow was shocked, at what she had just witnessed. Her friend Rarity, just dragged into a dark hole of death and despair, just like Twilight. Rainbow turned around... and her heart nearly stopped. What she was looking at was unreal. The black clouds that filled the sky were now pouring down dark shadows. Ponies everywhere were being dragged down into a black abyss. Rainbow flew into town, trying to save ponies from this chaos. Her efforts were in vain, she watched as Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and every other pony was dragged down into the abyss. As the black hole started to close Rainbow tried to rush in, in a desperate attempt to save her friends. It closed, and Rainbow was left alone in an abandoned dark Equestria. All she saw was a dark sky and the ruins of Ponyville. A voice appeared in the wind "Ahaha, poor Rainbow Dash, left alone in Equestria. Now we can't have that can we?" Almost instantly a dark shadow grabbed Rainbows legs and pulled her under, into the dark void. Rainbow Dash passed out when she was dragged under. She awoke, in a dark frozen wasteland. "Uggh where am I," the pegasus was confused and she had a headache. "What is this place.." Dash said. The sky was dark and the ground was freezing cold, it was entirely frozen. It didn't even look like there was soil or anything underneath it. She stood up and began to walk. She saw a figure in the distance... it looked like... like Fluttershy! She rushed toward her. When she got there, she witnessed the most horrific thing that she could have never even dreamed of. Fluttershy turned around. Her hair slumped down straight, she was bruised, cut and oozing blood from all over her. She turned around, and Dash nearly fainted. Fluttershy, her eye sockets empty, her mouth set in the scariest creepy smile. "Hi Rainbow Dash....." Her voice echoed... "Your eyes.... you look tired, let me fix that for you," Fluttershy said as she slowly walked toward Rainbow Dash. "G.. Get away from me," Rainbow Dash stuttered, backing away. "Oh come on.. Dashie, I just want to help... come now.. don't be afraid.. it's me Fluttershy..." Rainbow turned around and flew away as fast as she could. She looked behind her and Fluttershy was gone, she looked ahead of her and there she was, waiting. "You can't escape me Rainbow Dash... You're my friend and I'll follow you forever....." Fluttershy grabbed Rainbow Dash. She struggled to get free, but it was useless, Fluttershy's grip was too tight. Fluttershy pinned the defensless pony to the ground and picked up a sharp ice shard from the floor. Rainbow squirmed to the left and right, trying to get the deranged pony off of her. She used her back leg and and kicked Fluttershy off of her. "Oh no... that's not very friendly off you Rainbow Dash. Come now.. don't be difficult. Just give in.... it'll all be over soon..." Rainbow instantly flew up and bolted away. "I'll find you Rainbow Dash.... you can't escape." Rainbow Dash finally landed, needing to take a rest. "This can't be happening," Rainbow said. "If Fluttershy is like that, what could have happened to the rest of my friends. "Well why don't you find out..." A black shadow came and grabbed Rainbow Dash and pulled her into yet another dark abyss. She was left in a small dark room. Then 5 lights turned on. Under each of them was one of her friends. Then a 6th light turned on. The light was dim and the figure under it was still impossible to see. "Hi Rainbow Dash...." Fluttershy said. Rainbow looked in horror at her friends. They had all fallen to the same fate as Fluttershy. "Now Rainbow Dash, I'm sure you are wondering what's going on," the figure under the 6th light said. "Yea... What did you do to my friends, more importantly, why are you doing this!" Rainbow said, trying to be strong. "Why am I doing this? You shall find that out when I am ready to tell you. When I look into your face, I see your trying to be strong, you're not. I've tortured you to the point where you're as weak as Fluttershy once was. I saw how scared you were when you saw Fluttershy. Right now, what you are experiencing, is a never ending nightmare. You and all of Equestria will remain here forever. But this is your nightmare, I am feeding off of your fear. Every pony in Equestria has fallen the same fate as your friends. You, Rainbow Dash will now live in this world of darkness and fear. All because, I feel a pure deep dark hatred for everything. I decided to torture every pony the same way you are being tortured at this very moment. This.. is nothing but a nightmare, that you and every pony in Equestria is being forced to see. The 5 ponies beside me are not real, simply illusions that I am using to torture you. But, I have had a change of heart." ".......What...do you mean," the terrified pegasus said, holding back tears in her eyes. "I will release Equestria from this nightmare, they will not have to witness this chain of horrific events. However you must stay in the frozen wasteland with these 5 illusions of your friends. You will remain there, until the day you die. Until that day, my illusions of Fluttershy, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, will hunt you down. They will not kill you, they will torture you nonstop, until you collapse on the floor and never move again. What do you say. Because if not this nightmare will continue, and it will envelop all of Equestria, until all hope for the pony future is lost." "Why.. why me. Why is it me that you want?!" Rainbow said, crying hard. "You were the closest to solving this mystery. I have other reasons, but in due time you shall figure out why. Sweetie Belle almost had too, her spirit was too strong to be broken. So I wiped her memory and dropped her in the Everfree Forest. You have shown the most resistance to this nightmare. You were the last to be enveloped by it. That, my dear Rainbow Dash is why you will remain here. The choice is up to you, and I would hurry and make my decision if I were you." "...Ok...I'll do it, As long as Equestria is safe from the hell you've hidden here," Rainbow Dash said bravely. "A smart choice, all memory of you and of Sweetie Belle's disappearance, and of the black cloud storm that enveloped Equestria will all be erased. Nobody will remember you or anything else, like it never happened. GOODBYE RAINBOW DASH!" Everything went black. Rainbow Dash awoke, in the same frozen wasteland she had before. She found a small ice shard on the ground and began to carve a message into the ice... My name... is Rainbow Dash. Yesterday, I was living a normal peaceful life with my friends. But now, all of it has been taken from me, my home, my friends, my life. I wander this frozen, dark abandoned wasteland, in search of something that will lead to me to how and why this has happened. When I was just a filly, I would have nightmares. Somebody would speak to me, warning me of this. I ignored it, assuming it would all pass in time.... I was wrong If any pony else is enveloped in this nightmare, know that I am out there somewhere, running and surviving.
The Frozen DarkHow long has it been...... Maybe 7,8 days? I've been wandering this land, there is no edge, and the scenery remains the same. The same dark black sky, the same frozen icy ground. I no longer feel hunger, the bastard who sent me here took that away from me so I would live longer. I have no idea what I could have done that left me to this fate. I fear sleeping when I'm tired, I fear being found by one of the illusions of my friends. He said they were sent to torture me. Who he is? I have no idea, but I'm determined to find out. I just have no idea where to start, I was brought to him by a black shadow and sent back here for eternity. This eternal frozen nightmare, where I cannot die from anything other than age. If I don't do something, I'll be stuck here forever. There has to be something I can do...... There just has too.... Rainbow Dash slowly walked across the frozen wasteland. For about a week she had been stuck in this nightmare. She barely slept, all she could do was keep moving. "...........It feels.. like there's no end. I'll just keep walking like this forever. Why.....what did I do...." Rainbow collapsed, exhausted from walking. "Wake up Rainbow Dash!" "......What....." It was Twilight, she was standing over Rainbow Dash who had fallen asleep under a tree. "What.... it was all just.. a dream?" the Pegasus stuttered "I don't know, but you were tossing and turning like crazy, like.... you were being tortured. Is something the matter?" Something was wrong, what Rainbow had experienced was no mere nightmare, it was real... this... THIS was just a dream. Rainbow awoke... still in the same spot she collapsed in. She looked up into the eyes, or bare eye sockets of Twilight's Illusion. "Ahhh!!" Dash said as she instantly stood up. "I got her, don't worry darling we aren't going to hurt you," That petrified Pegasus turned around and saw Rarity's illusion as well. Rarity grabbed Rainbow Dash and held her against the icy floor. "Good job Rarity" Twilight's illusion laughed manically Twilight attempted to do what Fluttershy had done to her when she first entered the nightmare. She picked up and small sharp piece of ice towards Rainbow's eye. The cyan Pegasus knew she wouldn't die from this, but she didn't want to give in, she was going to fight until she went down for good. She rolled to the left with extreme force attempting to use her wings as a propeller. Rarity tumbled off Rainbow Dash. "Oh Dashie.... you always were a stubborn one.... But you can't escape us. We'll follow you forever and ever." Twilight said softly. Rainbow began hovering in the air ready to take off... when she got an idea. Since these illusions had the same personality as speaking patterns as her real friends, would Pinkie Pie be as thick headed? Would she be able to somehow fool Pinkie Pie into telling her how to get back to that dark lord guy? It seemed like a good plan, but first she had to ditch these two. "Follow me forever if you want, but you can never catch Rainbow Dash" She winked at the two illusions and flew off. She now had hope, well getting to the dark lord was only the first step. What was she going to do when and if she found him? So many questions ran through her mind. Also, how was she supposed to get Pinkie Pie to tell her anything? Maybe she could have gave her a cupcakes or threw her a party but that wouldn't work down here. There was nothing. As the Pegasus landed and began to walk once more she thought of what she could possibly do. Then it hit her.. "Pinkie Pie... loves anything colorful and pretty. If I can pull off a Sonic Rainboom down, that may convince her to help me. She may be a delusional murderous freak, but she's still Pinkie Pie. With all the darkness down here she definitely doesn't see any colors." It was the only plan Rainbow thought of, and it was the one that she had to go for. However she ran into one last problem. How was she going to find Pinkie Pie, and if she did what if she wasn't alone. "Uggh... nothing works out for me. Well I'll just have to think of something...again" the cyan Pegasus said. Just as she said that she saw another figure in the distance. It was too small to be one of her friends... It looked like.. no... it couldn't be. It was Sweetie Belle. "What.. this is impossible, did that dark lord make more illusions to chase me?" Rainbow walked slowly towards Sweetie Belle, it wasn't an illusion it was actually Sweetie Belle! "RAINBOW DASH!" Sweetie Belle jumped on Rainbow Dash, she was acting more clingy than Scootaloo. "How did you get here?" "I... I.. I don't know... I.. I went to sleep and woke up here. Just like when I fell asleep that one night and that scary dark lord guy kept me here. He kept asking me things but I wouldn't tell him anything, after awhile he dropped me in the Everfree Forest and left me there" This wasn't right.... Sweetie Belle had no memory of what happened to her. The dark lord erased her memory, this Sweetie Belle, was nothing more than... an illusion! Rainbow Dash raised her hoof and smacked the filly as hard as she could. She was right, a spell faded and she was staring into the face of Applejack's illusion. "Awww sugarcube, that was down right mean o' ya. I was juss' playin witcha... no need to be a scared." Applejack's illusion walked closer to Rainbow.... "Now come on Dashie... no need to walk away from me... it may be the last thing you ever do.." Applejack's voice got deeper.... and louder. Dash couldn't take it anymore, she had seen the illusions of her friends... horrifying nightmare inducing monsters. Rainbow Dash was too tired to fly. She slowly tried to run away from Applejack. It was useless, these illusions were a lot faster and stronger than her. "It's ok girls, ya'll can come out now." The rest of the illusions rose up from the ground. They all stared at Rainbow Dash for a while, then it was Fluttershy who broke the silence. "Rainbow Dash... why did you run from us.. we just want to be your friends.. we want you to be like us.." Fluttershy pointed at Rainbows eyes. Rainbow was barely holding back tears. The illusions had her, she was going to be tortured for eternity, she was too weak to run away. Fluttershy this time didn't reach for one of the shards of ice on the floor. She lifted her hoof and reached to a small bag that had been sitting on her back. She pulled a sharp bladed knife out of the bag. She slowly walked towards Rainbow Dash. "See Rainbow Dash.... don't resist, it'll all be over soon, oh wait... no it won't" Fluttershy let out a menacing laugh and the other illusions followed. She pointed the knife towards the petrified Pegasus's eyes when Rainbow felt Applejacks grip shift. Right when she did that, the cyan Pegasus kicked Fluttershy back, and knocked the knife out of her hoof, it went straight up and fell down and jammed straight into Fluttershy's head. Fluttershy howled....the blood slowly oozing out of her head. She stood up... "Rainbow Dash... Rainbow Dash... Rainbow Dash.... this isn't over....." Fluttershy and the rest of the illusions faded into the ground. Dash landed, hoping that she had some time to rest..and began to nap. "Hey.. Rainbow Dash wake up!" The cyan Pegasus instantly jumped up... and standing before her was Pinkie Pie's illusion. "You know that was a really mean thing you did to Fluttershy." Rainbow decided to play along, Pinkie's illusion obviously wasn't much different than the real one. "Yea I know... but she was trying to hurt me... you wouldn't want me to get hurt would you?" "No of course not, you're my bestest friend!" "Yea, hey Pinkie... I'm having a small problem.. do you think you could help me?" "Sure no problem Dashie... what is it?" "Well do you remember that scary dark lord that brought me here?" "Oh yea him... he's not scary.... You should give him a chance he's really nice!" "WelI I would like to but I don't know how to get to him. If you show me how I'll show you something super awesome fantastically cool!" "Oooooo deal deal!" Pinkie's illusion hopped up and down. The cyan Pegasus flew up as high as she could, and used all her energy into trying to form a Sonic Rainboom. As she sped up her muscles strained, her body was basically screaming at her to stop. But if she didn't do this she would never get a chance to leave this nightmare. Finally, Rainbow Dash doubled in speed and a huge rainbow shot out from her path. Pinkie's illusion ooed and awwed at the sight. "Okie dokie, a deals a deal!" Pinkie grabbed Rainbow Dash and they both faded into the ground. "Well, well, well.. If it isn't Rainbow Dash," the dark lord said. "Yea it's me... I beat your stupid little illusions and fooled one into taking me here, now you're going to tell me what I want to know!" "Fine... what exactly do you want to know?" "First... who the hell are you and why are you doing this?" "My name.... well you can call me Alphion, the Nightmare Inducer. Now why am I doing this. Well I guess I should answer another question you probably have first." "Okay.. fine with me!" "It's why I brought YOU here to be tortured in this nightmare. Out of all of your friends, you were the strongest, the bravest, the most stubborn. Remember the Discord incident? Twilight got all of her friends to come to her senses easy, you however did not come so quietly. You were also the closest to figuring what had been going on when I first enveloped Equestria in this nightmare. When Fluttershy couldn't sleep that one night, you knew it meant something.. but you chose to ignore it. When the black clouds formed over Equestria, you attempted to clear them, and when they reformed you tried to find out why, which is why Twilight was the first to go. You were and always have been the strongest, that is why I wanted you gone. Sweetie Belle's disappearance, that was a test, I wanted to see how Ponyville would act in the event of a disappearing pony, it was only serious until she was found." "Your sick. You did all this to me because I'm strong, so tell me WHY exactly are you doing this?" "Well there is only one way to defeat me, the same way Discord and Nightmare Moon were defeated, all six elements of harmony combined. But without you Rainbow Dash, I cannot be defeated or even reached by the other 5 ponies. So I decided to trap you here, and then the Elements of Harmony would be useless against me. I could do whatever I pleased with Equestria, so I fooled you to remain in this nightmare, which would leave Equestria vulnerable," "You forgot one thing, if you erased my existence from Equestria, Nightmare Moon and Discord were never defeated... Equestria would belong to them!" "That is where you are wrong, I created a new pony that would be your replacement in Equestria, she serves me and only me, so if somehow the Elements of Harmony were going to be used to destroy me, the pony I conjured would cross to my side, leaving Pinkie, Rarity, Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy defenseless." Rainbow Dash was speechless.... Alphion had thought of everything, he was unstoppable. "However... Since you went through all this trouble to find me, I will give you one last chance to save Equestria. I will return you to Equestria, if you can convince your friends that my agent is working against them and that you actually do exist, I shall allow Equestria to continue it's existence. But if not, you return to this nightmare, this time, you are unable to die period. No old age death, you absolutely cannot die, and you will be hunted by the illusions of your friends. And Pinkie Pie will be fixed so that you never pull a stunt like this again." "......" Rainbow Dash was at a loss for words, Alphion had to be pulling something, he wasn't just going to let Rainbow Dash wander freely in Equestria. "Make your choice...." "I'll go" "Very well" I ascended into the dark sky above me... not knowing if I would succeed or not, but I knew I had to do this, for my friends, and for Equestria.
A Forgotten PegasusI have returned to Equestria. I was give one last chance by Alphion, the Nightmare Inducer to save Equestria from his nightmares. He has erased my existence from this world. If I can prove that I exist and that his "agent" as he calls this pony that replaced me, is working with Alphion, he has promised to leave Equestria alone. He may be plotting another scheme like he did before, but this is the only chance I have, and I must take it. ************************************************************************************************* Rainbow Dash rose up from the ground in the exact same spot where she had been dragged into Alphion's nightmare. On the outskirts of Ponyville. Last time she saw it, Ponyville was destroyed and in ruins, but now it's as if nothing happened. She figured the first thing she should do is find out who this mysterious "agent" was. How was she to find one pony in Ponyville. Well there was one pony who knew every pony in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie. "If Alphion erased my existence, Pinkie Pie obviously won't recognize me, and she'll likely throw me a welcome party just like she did for Twilight." The cyan Pegasus trotted down to Sugarcube Corner to see if her pink friend was there. She walked in the front door, and Pinkie was standing right at the counter. Rainbow proceeded to walk up to her. Since she had no money, she couldn't by anything so she walked around a bit and walked out. "AHHHH!" Rainbow Dash heard Pinkie Pie scream, she obviously realized that this Pegasus was new in town. After around an hour trotting around Ponyville waiting to either see Pinkie Pie, or some sort of party for her. She trotted through the side streets of Ponyville when something grabbed her. She was blindfolded and her mouth was taped shut. When the tape and blindfold was removed, Rainbow Dash was sitting in the Ponyville library. Pinkie Pie had done it. Just about every pony in Ponyville had to be there. "Hi, you're new in town right! So if you're new then you must not have any friends so you must be lonely and that made me sooooo sad! So I threw you a welcome party so you can make friends! Hi I'm Pinkie Pie!" "I'm Rainbow Dash.. nice to meet you Pinkie Pie" Rainbow felt very awkward talking to one of her closest friends like she barely knew her. "Ok now come on I have some ponies I want you to meet!" Rainbow Dash was sure Pinkie would introduce her to Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and this new pony who had taken Dash's place. "Ok so this is Twilight Sparkle..." The cyan Pegasus had stopped listening, already knowing what she was going to say. "annnd finally this is Blitz! I had one more pony I wanted you to meet, but she's not here now" "There we go," Rainbow thought to herself. "Hi, I'm Blitz, who are you?" "Fanmade picture of Blitz that I made" "My name is Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you Blitz" This had to be Alphion's agent. She had never seen her in Ponyville before. However, this did not seem like a bad pony to Rainbow Dash. She had an eggshell coat with with wings about the same size as Rainbow's. She had along red mane that reached down to the top of her legs. She had a sweet soft voice, but she wasn't very shy like Fluttershy. She seemed friendly at first, but this was exactly Alphion's plan, to make Blitz seem so nice that Rainbow could never prove she was working for him. The worst part of it was, nobody knew who Alphion was! The cyan coated Pegasus spent the rest of the party walking around and thinking how to solve her problem. She also tried to get closer with her friends, hopefully to give her some slack, making easier to prove Blitz's evil intentions. "Ok every pony.. party's over!" Every pony began to get their stuff and leave the library. "Hey Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow turned around to see Blitz walking towards her. Dash didn't know what to do, did Alphion somehow inform Blitz that Rainbow was coming? "Hey, Rainbow Dash so I was wondering....If you don't have some place to stay tonight, I could show you a spot where the clouds are nice and soft, perfect for getting a good nights sleep, especially after that party." The cyan Pegasus was very confused... if this was supposed to be her replacement in history, Alphion most definitely informed her WHO she was copying. But Rainbow Dash was exhausted and Blitz couldn't do anything to her while they were in Ponyville. "Sure that sounds nice, thank you." "Ok, follow me." Blitz led Rainbow Dash to the same place where she had normally slept. Rainbow Dash fell asleep on the cloud, happy that for at least one night, she could have a good rest. Rainbow Dash awoke again in the middle of the night. Blitz had fallen asleep next to her. "Ok.... this getting really weird. This pony is too nice and too sweet to be helping Alphion," Just then, a dark figure rose up from the ground. It was Alphion. "You have 2 weeks Rainbow Dash, if by then you have not proved that my "agent" is working for me, you will return to my nightmare." Rainbow's heart stopped, she only had two weeks, how was she supposed to gain her "friends" trust in two weeks. There had to be one little shred of evidence that could help her. The next morning the cyan Pegasus awoke, Blitz was no longer next to her, she had probably already flew off already. She thought long and hard about what her next move would be. She decided to spy on Blitz, to see if she was close enough with her old friends to be replacing her. Blitz had to have been one of the nicest ponies she had ever seen. First she went down to Sweet Apple Acres to help Applejack with the apple bucking. She helped Pinkie Pie watch the Cake's Twins. She helped Twilight clean the library. She helped Fluttershy tend to her animals, she could even get Angel to finish his vegetables, something even Fluttershy couldn't do. She was perfect, too nice for an average pony. This had to be Alphion's plan, make Blitz seem so nice that there was no way any pony would suspect her of anything. The only thing Dash could do to prove it was maybe try and tell one of her friends, she knew everything about them, that had to make them somewhat suspicious, right? "I can't do that, it's too risky and if they don't believe me my cover will be blown." That's when it happened, Blitz was trotting down Ponyville into a small dark alley. Dash followed her and kept her ear close to the wall, Blitz was talking to someone. "... Yes everything is in order master. There is no way that, this Pegasus will complete her task on time." Rainbow Dash was shocked, she heard clearly what Blitz said, she flew away thinking of a plan to expose Blitz. "If I see her going into that alley again, I'll convince my friends to listen to what she says and expose that red maned deceiver." Then the cyan Pegasus had a better idea, instead of immediately exposing her, she would try to get closer to Blitz, maybe this pony was working for Alphion, but if she was an actual pony with real emotions, she would tell Rainbow something. The next morning Rainbow Dash awoke, full prepared knowing what she had to do today. She invited Blitz to hang out at Ponyville Park today, hopefully to try and learn more about her. "Hi Rainbow Dash." "Hey Blitz glad you could make it!" "Yea soo, what do you wanna do? Oh just saying I have to leave a little early, Rarity needs help making a new dress and she wanted my help." "Oh.. ok no problem." This pony obviously didn't want to be around Rainbow Dash, she was afraid she might tell her something she shouldn't. The two Pegasi talked for around an thirty minutes. Rainbow was getting no information out of her, it was like she always knew exactly what to say. "Wait..." Rainbow thought to herself, if this pony is my replacement in history, she grew up in the same place as me, then again.... most Pegasi grew up in Cloudsdale. So her answer would probably be that, but it couldn't hurt to ask. "Where are you from Blitz?" Blitz thought for a second, she finally didn't have the answer to this question, she may have been Rainbow Dash's replacement, but she still didn't know everything about her. Finally she replied, "Well, I was born in Canterlot and my parents wanted to send me to Cloudsdale, I didn't want to go, I'm not much into flying." This made no sense... Fluttershy wasn't even into flying a lot and she still went to Cloudsdale, now Blitz was just making excuses. "Hey Rainbow Dash...Is something bothering you?" "What no.. no nothing at all." "Mmk" Blitz said in a soft voice, she inched close to Rainbow Dash. A small smile grew on her face. "Wow look at time, uhhh I really gotta go seeya Blitz!" The cyan Pegasus dashed away from Blitz. "I couldn't get any information out of her, except that she lied about Cloudsdale, I'll expose her tomorrow night. It's my only option at this point." Sure enough Blitz returned to the alley the next night, the cyan Pegasus flew away, she didn't need to hear what Blitz was saying, she had her now. Rainbow flew back to her cloud feeling proud that tomorrow she could expose Blitz. Dash woke up the next morning to find Blitz sleeping next to her yet again. "Ok there are like 100 clouds here, I don't care if she's an agent of darkness, but she's playing this waaay to safe. She's trying to get close to me (literally it seems) so that I don't suspect it's her. It gives her away" Rainbow Dash went to Ponyville Park to spend the day, Blitz went into the alley just after dusk, she would convince the rest of the ponies beforehand. ************************************************************************************************* That night... I thought I had it all planned out, I had been in Ponyville for around 5 days and I thought I had already won, I was wrong.... completely... wrong. ************************************************************************************************ The red maned Pegasus went into the alley that night, Rainbow had convinced Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie to follow her. When Blitz began to speak, the ponies were shocked at what they heard. Then Pinkie poked her head around the corner. "Rainbow Dash you silly filly, Blitz is just reading a story to the Cake's twins. She does that every night, even though those two are still babies, they looove Blitz's scary stories." Rainbow Dash was in awe, she believed she had evidence Blitz was deceiving them. "Rainbow Dash, you're new here, and you had the nerve to accuse a nice pony such as Blitz of being a Dark Lord's agents, maybe you should go..." "But.. wait" "No Rainbow Dash... come on girls, lets go" Not even Fluttershy had a comforting word to say. The cyan Pegasus was crushed, her friend Twilight Sparkle, just told her to leave, she had really screwed up this time. The 4 ponies walked away. Rainbow walked all the way back to the spot where she used to sleep. Blitz had to be Alphion's agent, she had to. "She must have known, Alphion has been telling her, that's why she can predict what I'm going to do, I can't win. Unless.." She thought about returning to that nightmare. She got angrier and angrier until she felt she had no other choice, if she was going back to that nightmare, she was going to make sure Alphion was setback in his plan to envelop Equestria in his nightmare. Rainbow hid under the tree and waited for Blitz to return. Blitz flew around and finally landed on the soft cloud. "Where's Rainbow Dash is? She's normally here before me." "I'm right here...." Rainbow Dash rose up from the cloud and knocked Blitz off. "Shutup... you're coming with me" The cyan Pegasus was growing darker and darker. She dragged the unconscious Blitz far away from Ponyvillle. "Get up. You think you can just take my place in history, ruin my life and have Alphion lock me away in that nightmare!" "R..Rainbow Dash I don't know what you're talking about.. p..please ...do...don't hurt me" She got up and Rainbow struck her multiple times. She jumped on her chest breaking her ribs. Blitz was literally begging Rainbow Dash to stop. All Rainbow could think about was returning to that nightmare in failure. If she was going to remain in oblivion forever, she was going to do as much damage as she could to Alphion's plan. She choked Blitz until she stopped breathing, Blitz fell limp and lifeless on the cold hard ground. It grew cold... and silent. Rainbow stared at the dead body of Blitz. She didn't say a word..... "Well, well, well... you did it" Rainbow Dash turned around and saw a pony staring at her. She had never seen this pony in her life. "Oh... I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself" The pony stepped out from under the shade of the tree. "My name is Sonic Spark" This pony had a gray coat,she was a Pegasus just like Rainbow Dash,and she had a mane almost the same style as Rainbow Dash's, except the colors were a bright yellow and black. "Fanmade image of Sonic Spark" "What are you doing here?" " You thought you had this all planned out? You thought you could fool Alphion? Alphion never gave you a fair chance, he knew you would fail. See the dead Pegasus over there? You thought killing Alphion's agent would at least somewhat help you? Well it would, if you had at least killed the right pony. "Wh....What do you mean?" The cyan Pegasus felt her body tense up. She was shaking, scared what this pony's response would be. "Blitz arrived in Ponyville after Alphion released all the ponies of Equestria from his nightmare and wiped their memories of you and the nightmare. Time moves a lot faster out here than in that nightmare. You've been gone for 4 months. When you got here he knew that you would immediately assume she was the agent because she hung around your friends the most. Since I knew this as well, I hid from you while darkness took control of you. When Ponyville hears about what you've done to Blitz, it's back to the nightmare with you. Blitz was no dark agent Rainbow Dash... I am." "You... you're Alphion's agent." "See now you're getting it. If you were smart you would have mentioned Nightmare Moon or Discord, every pony knows that Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Sonic Spark represent the 6 Elements of Harmony. They would have mentioned me." "You're not the sixth Element of Harmony, you cannot be the Element of Loyalty, you're betraying 5 of the strongest and nicest ponies in this land. And now laying next to me is the dead body of the nicest most innocent pony, because of you and because of Alphion. I'm not so sure Alphion is going to spare you when he envelops Equestria in a nightmare." "We did not kill Blitz... you did" . Rainbow Dash charged at Sonic Spark, but she faded away, just like Alphion's illusions. The cyan Pegasus began to cry, sobbing over Blitz's body, She would never forgive herself for what she had done. "She was innocent, just a regular nice pony.... look what I've done.... Alphion tricked me... he got Sonic Spark to hide so that there was no chance of me finding her.." Now she was doomed to wander Alphion's nightmare forever. 9 days later ************************************************************************************************* I have been wandering Equestria.. returning to Ponyville would be useless, Sonic Spark told everyone what I did to Blitz. I'm a wanted criminal. This is my last day in Equestria before I go back to Alphion's nightmare. I have failed my friends, I have failed myself, I have failed Equestria. ************************************************************************************************* Just then a black shadow rose up from the ground, and dragged Rainbow Dash down, back into Alphion's nightmare. "Welcome back.... Rainbow Dash."
Dark DescensionI have failed..... Blitz is dead...... I was unable to prove Sonic Spark's deception........ Equestria.... is..... doomed..... ********************************************************************************************* "Welcome back Rainbow Dash....you have failed in your task. You know what this means" ".....I know what this means......I don't care... you made me murder an innocent pony, your a sick twisted monster....Return me to the nightmare... But I won't give up.... no matter what you do to me.. you won't break me." "You call me a monster? I'm not the one who killed poor Blitz." "You bastard...." Rainbow couldn't control herself, her soul had fallen to darkness. Her entire body was fueled with her rage. She wasn't going to go down, not without a fight... She charged at Alphion, in a desperate attempt to wound him. "No,no,no" Alphion shot a dark beam out of his palm, striking Rainbow Dash full force.... She collapsed on the ground. "Fluttershy...." "Yes... m..master Alphion" "She is too strong, I will find a way to break her spirit. Make sure she doesn't get up while I think." Fluttershy obeyed and walked over to the cyan Pegasus. She repeatedly kicked Rainbow Dash, every attempt she made to get up, she would be knocked back down. She looked up, Fluttershy's illusion looked even scarier, especially with the scar in the top of her head where the knife jammed into her skull. "y....y............y..............oooo...u.." Rainbow Dash collapsed unconscious, she was badly bruised and she was bleeding. With Alphion's curse she could not die, not ever, she was doomed to be tortured for eternity. She would be forced to watch Equestria be enveloped in a nightmare by Alphion. It was over, he had won. The cyan Pegasus had barely regained consciousness when she felt herself being dragged somewhere. She fully awoke inside what appeared to be a maze, a hedge maze to be exact. It looked like... the maze where Discord had trapped her and her friends. She got up and began walking... slowly through it. "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash saw Twilight, but there was someone next to her, it was Discord. "What? This can't be happening." Discord reached for Twilight and picked her up by the throat. He began to choke her. "NO!" Rainbow Dash charged at Discord. She jumped at him and went right through him. Twilight fell limp and lifeless. "Do you enjoy what you're seeing Rainbow Dash?" It was Alphion, she heard his voice, but couldn't see him. "Did that hurt? Have you felt enough pain? Enough suffering! Feel this!" Rainbow felt herself being lifted off the ground, she felt a crushing force on her throat. Something was choking her, Alphion had to be using some kind of psychic power. "It won't end Rainbow Dash, you will remain here forever! GET USED TO THE PAIN!!" Alphion launched the cyan Pegasus against a wall. She opened her eyes, and saw Fluttershy's illusion slowly walking toward her... Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. She was going crazy, her vision was so blurry. "I wanted you to be like me Rainbow Dash..." Yet again she pointed at her eyes. Rainbow thought this was it, Fluttershy was going to gouge her eyes out and she would wander this world with no sight. No way of knowing where she was going. "But.... Alphion has forbid it, you must see everything that is going to happen to you. You're stuck here forever, this is only the beginning." Fluttershy reached for her back again, and pulled the knife out of her saddle bag. She held it in her hoof and jammed it into Rainbow Dash's side. The cyan coated Pegasus was too weak to cry out, but she was screaming on the inside. The pain was completely unbearable. "I'll be back later... goodbye Dashie." Fluttershy let out a light menacing laugh and walked away. Dash fell unconscious yet again. ***************************************************************************************************** "Come Princess Celestia! This is where it happened!" Sonic Spark said as she led Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and the rest of the Mane 6 to the spot where Blitz had been killed. Her body was no longer there but the Princesses wanted to see the spot for themselves. "So, Sonic Spark, you saw Rainbow Dash kill Blitz with your own eyes correct?" "Yes Princess Celestia, I was flying around and I saw Dash choke Blitz and throw her on the ground. By the time she was dead Rainbow Dash had flew away, I couldn't save Blitz." Princess Luna gave Sonic Spark a strange look, it didn't seem very coincidental for her to be flying here just when Blitz was murdered. "Hmm... it is a real shame what the Pegasus did," Princess Celestia didn't seem to suspect a thing. Luna was lost in thought. "Is something the matter Luna?" "Yes Celestia, I don't believe Sonic Spark. Something you want to tell us?" "N...No Princess why would I lie to you?" "Good, because let us see if your story is true." A glowing purple light emanated from Luna's horn, she fired it at the ground. Every pony was getting a glimpse into the past. ***************************************************************************************** "My name is Sonic Spark" "What are you doing here?" " You thought you had this all planned out? You thought you could fool Alphion? Alphion never gave you a fair chance, he knew you would fail. See the dead Pegasus over there? You thought killing Alphion's agent would at least somewhat help you? Well it would, if you had at least killed the right pony. "Wh....What do you mean?" "Blitz arrived in Ponyville after Alphion released all the ponies of Equestria from his nightmare and wiped their memories of you and the nightmare. Time moves a lot faster out here than in that nightmare. You've been gone for 4 months. When you got here he knew that you would immediately assume she was the agent because she hung around your friends the most. Since I knew this as well, I hid from you while darkness took control of you. When Ponyville hears about what you've done to Blitz, it's back to the nightmare with you. Blitz was no dark agent Rainbow Dash... I am." "You... you're Alphion's agent." "See now you're getting it. If you were smart you would have mentioned Nightmare Moon or Discord, every pony knows that Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Sonic Spark represent the 6 Elements of Harmony. They would have mentioned me." "You're not the sixth Element of Harmony, you cannot be the Element of Loyalty, you're betraying 5 of the strongest and nicest ponies in this land. And now laying next to me is the dead body of the nicest most innocent pony, because of you and because of Alphion. I'm not so sure Alphion is going to spare you when he envelops Equestria in a nightmare." "We did not kill Blitz... you did" ********************************************************************************************** "Just as I thought.... SONIC SPARK!" Luna's voice thundered as Sonic Spark trembled. "YOU WILL TELL US WHAT WE WANT TO KNOW RIGHT NOW! WHO IS ALPHION AND WHAT IS THE REAL REASON YOU ARE HERE!" Luna's voice was so becoming so loud the rest of the pony's backed away. "....Well......... ********************************************************************************************* "I'm back Rainbow Dash... Did you miss me? Here lemme help you with this" Fluttershy reached down and pulled the knife out of Rainbow Dash's side. The battered Pegasus was too injured to do anything. She was completely paralyzed and couldn't move an inch. "GET UP!" "O....O.....k" Rainbow was barely able to stand up, her legs trembling as she got up. The scenery around her began to change.... the hedge maze faded away and the frozen wasteland began to form. But something was different. The wind picked up and it was a lot colder than it was before. Snow and ice were falling from the dark clouds above. Fluttershy faded away saying. "Good luck....." The cyan Pegasus began walking, but didn't get very far, she collapsed yet again. She began to mutter something to herself. "This.... this is for eternity, with no relief, ever........ Equestria........ Twilight.... Rarity....... Applejack.............. .Fluttershy........ .........Pinkie.......Blitz....... I'm sorry......." Rainbow Dash began to sob heavily. She would never see her friends again. She would wonder the world forever, worst of all, she would have the torture of knowing that while she lived forever in this nightmare, her friends in Equestria would die. She began to cry even harder..... Alphion had broken her, he took Rainbow Dash, a brave kindhearted Pegasus, turned her into a dark evil murderer, and then forced her into a never ending nightmare with the knowledge that Equestria and her friends were dying out. ***************************************************************************************************** "Quick Twilight! There has to be a book here on Alphion!" Twilight and Princess Celestia were the first two to run into the Ponyville library. Sonic Spark had told them everything about Rainbow Dash and Alphion. "There's no need for a book..." "What do you mean Luna?" Just then Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity walked it, they had Sonic Spark tied up and she was trying hard to get free. She could have simply faded away since she was one of Alphion's illusions but Celestia put a spell on her to prevent her from doing so. "Ok, so as I was saying. Alphion.... the Nightmare Inducer. He alone, is stronger than me and you combined Celestia, his powers surpass even Discord's. He offered me a deal while I was still Nightmare Moon. I would rule Equestria from the real world, while he would do as he pleased with Equestria and it's ponies. But I had no interest in having him hurt innocent ponies. But moving on, he has the power to create powerful nightmares and illusions. Also he can erase the memories of his nightmares, or any living thing contained in his nightmares and replace them. Which is what he has done to Rainbow Dash." Every pony was speechless, Alphion did not sound like any laughing matter. "I wish I knew what his plans were this time, but they definitely not good. For him to contain Rainbow Dash in this nightmare, erase our memories of her and then replace her in history. I wonder what was so special about this Pegasus that she was subjected to this torment." Applejack stepped forward. "Well, dark lord or not, he's got our buddy trapped in that nightmare o' his. We need to find a way to stop him and fix this." "I wish it was that simple..... You see Alphion can only be defeated by the 6 Elements of Harmony combined, but without Rainbow Dash.... it is impossible." "Well we gotta do something! Poor poor Rainbow Dash is stuck in that awful nightmare all by herself!" "We'll think of something of something Pinkie Pie... we'll think of something" ***************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash stood up..... slowly, tears still dripping off her eyelids............ "Now Rainbow Dash... you look lonely, you could use some company." The cyan Pegasus stood up, trembling as she heard Alphion's voice. A shadow rose up from the ground and Rarity's illusion appeared. "Now my dear Rainbow Dash, you look terrible, you need a complete makeover..... Here let me help you." Rarity pulled a needle and thread out her saddlebag. "Get away... from me." Rarity let out a maniacal laugh. "Now my darling Dashie... This won't hurt a bit..." Rainbow Dash turned around, giving Rarity the illusion she was going to run. Then she lifted her legs, and used whatever energy she had and bucked Rarity has hard as she could. Rarity's illusion fell to the ground. She faded into the ground and the reappeared in front of the cyan Pegasus. She jabbed the needle at Dash's face. She quickly dodged it and swept her foot and knocked Rarity to the ground again. The cyan Pegasus quickly swiped the needle from Rarity and jammed into the left side of Rarity's face. "AHHHHHH!" Rarity howled in pain and the nightmare began to shake around Rainbow Dash. "ENOUGH!" Alphion rose up from the ground. Rainbow tensed up yet again... scared at what might happen to her next. "YOU!! I'M GROWING TIRED OF YOU! NO REGULAR PEGASUS IN THIS DAMNED WORLD CAN ENDURE WHAT YOU'RE GOING THROUGH!! YOU'VE FORCED MY ILLUSION TO RETREAT FROM YOU! IT'S SIMPLY IMPOSSIBLE!" Rainbow was petrified by Alphion's booming voice. He was completely furious... She was trying as hard as she could to show no fear. But the look in her eyes showed that she was terrified. "YOU'VE LEFT ME CHOICE! I WILL PUT YOU DOWN MYSELF!!" Alphion's voice began to lower in volume. "You Rainbow Dash.... I see now... you're too strong to be completely broken by my illusions. So I will break you myself, and for the rest of eternity.... my illusions will torture your petrified unmoving body." Alphion's palm began to glow, a dark aura surrounding it. He fired a huge ball of shadow at Rainbow Dash. "She'll dodge this for sure." He thought to himself. Sure enough the cyan Pegasus flew up dodging the last. Then almost instantly Alphion charged forward and grabbed Dash. "Take this!" He rose up into the dark sky, and chucked Rainbow Dash as hard as he could at the ground. She hit the cold icy ground that was so solid and hard it didn't even crack. She hit the ground so hard, with complete resistance from it. You couldn't even imagine what that would feel like. "Fluttershy.... come get her..." Alphion faded back into is lair, while Fluttershy appeared and dragged the unconscious Pegasus away. Dash awoke, chained to some kind of wall. "Wh....what's going on?" "Hi Rainbow Dash....." Fluttershy's illusion stepped forward. "Do you see this thing here?" Next to Fluttershy was some sort of machine... "Check out what it does..." The deranged Pegasus flipped a switch on the machine. A blast of freezing cold air shot out from it, blowing right on Rainbow Dash. "You know Rainbow Dash..... if it were possible for you to die, you would have froze to death by now. This machine shoots out cold air at -200 degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks to Alphion, I can create whatever I wish to torture you. I mean, the way you dodged Rarity's attacks and then stabbed her with her own needle, you were practically on fire! I figured this would.... cool you down a bit..." Rainbow Dash couldn't focus on what Fluttershy was saying. This was completely unbearable. She began to scream, this was the worst thing she could ever imagine. Why wasn't she freezing? She should have turned to a block of ice by now, probably another spell from Alphion, so she would have to feel the pain of the blast. Why.... why couldn't Alphion just kill her! It would make it so that she could never interfere with his plans again. Why................. *************************************************************************************************** Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Luna and Celestia had been sitting in the library for hours. They were interrogating Sonic Spark, trying to get her to reveal something about Alphion. "Come on y'all this ain't workin none. She's too stubborn." Everyone seemed to agree with Applejack. "Wait.... I have an idea." Rarity said. "Pinkie Pie... could you do me a favor, talk to our dear Sonic Spark here, use any means necessary to get her to say something. Every pony else follow me." The ponies all gave Rarity a strange look. "Absolutely no pony can listen to Pinkie Pie talk nonstop for more than ten minute, she'll crack, just give it time." 10 minutes later... "AAAHHHH MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE BE QUIET!" "Seeee, I told you she would crack." "Ok... I'll tell you everything. Alphion about 8 months ago, had taken Sweetie Belle and dragged her into a nightmare just like Rainbow Dash. Sweetie Belle was getting nightmares, warnings about him. She had been investigating in Twilight's library at night researching him. So he erased her memory and left her and dropped her in the Everfree Forest. Ponyville gave a weak response to it since there was no evidence of her disappearance. Rainbow Dash received a sign of her disappearance beforehand, she couldn't sleep for no reason. That is the sign of Alphion's coming. 4 months later, Alphion had a plan, to envelop Equestria in a nightmare, but with all 6 Elements of Harmony being in the real world, it was impossible to keep them all contained for long.. Fluttershy received the same sign the night before, when Rainbow Dash heard that Fluttershy couldn't sleep she began to freak out. The next day Alphion captured Twilight, Rarity and then the rest of Equestria. He decided to fool Rainbow Dash into remaining in the nightmare. He said that by her staying here, he would release everyone. He replaced her in history with me, a fake Element of Loyalty. He wiped everyone's memory of her, Sweetie Belle's disappearance and the nightmare storm. While his power was being rebuilt, Rainbow Dash was left being tortured in the nightmare." "Typical move for Alphion," Luna said. "Wait, why wouldn't Alphion just kill Rainbow Dash?" "Alphion's power may be great, but he cannot kill any pony with the Element of Harmony contained inside her. But.. continuing on. So Alphion forced Rainbow Dash to wander his nightmare, while being hunted by horrific illusions of her friends. They would torture her, but were unable to kill her. Rainbow however, tricked Pinkie Pie's illusion into taking her back to Alphion. Alphion gave Rainbow Dash one last chance to save Equestria. She would return to Ponyville and she had to prove that I was working for him. So I hid, and Blitz had arrived in town after all the ponies were released from his nightmare. Rainbow Dash assumed Blitz was Alphion's agent so she gathered evidence to expose her. She thought Blitz was too nice for an average pony. She thought Blitz was just acting so no pony would suspect her. After what she heard in the alley and in the park, she decided to tell you girls. But when Blitz had just been reading to the Cakes' twins, she thought Alphion had informed Blitz of her next move, so she faked it. Then Rainbow began to grow darker and darker, thinking about returning to the nightmare. Alphion gave her two weeks to prove it, or she would return to the nightmare, to be tortured for eternity. So Rainbow killed Blitz, in a desperate attempt to at least postpone Alphion's attack." ".............................Unbelievable........................" Every pony was shocked at what they were hearing. Their friend was trapped in an endless nightmare, Blitz was dead, and they had been deceived by the evil pony illusion. "Well how do we get to this Alphion feller?" Applejack said. "Ahahah," Sonic Spark laughed weakly.... "It would be pointless, only Alphion can release Rainbow Dash from her nightmare, and he would never do that. It's a suicide mission." "We don't care.... if we don't do something, all of Equestria will be consumed by this nightmare." "I.... will never.... tell you.... AHHH!" Sonic Spark struggled to get free... the ropes snapped and she flew up into the air. "YOU WILL NEVER GET TO ALPHION!!" Sonic Spark's eyes grew dark. She began firing shadow blasts at the rest of the ponies. "AHAHA!" "ENOUGH!" Princess Luna's horn grew bright, and she fired a blast at Sonic Spark. She fell to the ground... "Sonic... Sonic Spark.... you claim to be an agent of darkness, and nothing more than an illusion. But somewhere deep inside you there is a good and decent pony. Alphion will not spare you when he destroys Equestria, this is your chance to redeem yourself. Help us get to him, and we will end him." Princess Luna stood over Sonic Spark, waiting for her answer. ******************************************************************************************** "AHHHHHHHHH!!" Rainbow Dash was screaming, this pain was too much for her to bare. The freezing cold air was freezing and paralyzing her body. She didn't know how much she could endure... but it didn't matter, she was FORCED to endure everything.... Alphion wasn't joking.... this was real torture. "That's it Rainbow dash..... feel the pain.... Get used to it.... Because you're never getting out of here."
Screaming In AgonyAlphion has me. I failed to save Equestria, now forever I am locked in his nightmare. Death will never free me from this. It's Alphion's nightmare, his world, his rules.... and according to him... I will suffer for eternity. ****************************************************************************************************** "Hmmm... what to do with you next..." Fluttershy's illusion walked around Rainbow Dash who was chained to the wall. "y...................y........o..........u....................b..............i....t...c..........h" Rainbow Dash could barely utter a single word. It was impossible for her to even move. Fluttershy walked up to the battered Pegasus. "Shut up..." The deranged Pegasus turned around and bucked Rainbow Dash into the wall. Even for an illusion of Fluttershy, she wasn't the slightest bit graceful. "Hmmmmm.... oooo aha! That'll work" The scenery began to change again. Rainbow Dash looked up, she was no longer chained to the wall, instead all of her hooves had been chained to rotating gears. Below her was a pool, filled with water it had to be at least 20 feet deep, she couldn't even see the bottom. "Looks fun doesn't it?" Fluttershy reached for the lever and pulled it. Rainbow Dash was slowly lowered down into the pool. She dipped one hoof into the pool and her heart skipped a beat. The water was ridiculously cold. She had reached the bottom of the pool about a minute later. She heard Fluttershy's voice. "Try and get out." Again she heard her menacing laugh. "Good luck...." ********************************************************************************************************* "Well Sonic Spark? Will you help us?" ".............." She didn't utter a single word. "O...ok... I... will. But only if you promise you'll keep me safe from Alphion. If he founds out I've betrayed him, he'll kill me. Since I don't have a true Element of Harmony inside me, he can easily do so." "That is correct, my dear Sonic Spark..." Alphion said as he rose up from the floor of the library. "Sorry lady's am I interrupting?" "Back up Alphion." Celestia stepped forward, shielding Sonic Spark for whatever attack Alphion was planning to unleash. "Ahh the fearless Princess Celestia I assume. Now little Princess, step aside I must speak to my associate over here." "You're not going to touch her." "Hmph, I asked nicely." Alphion put his hand out forward... raised Princess Celestia into the air and prepared to launch her back when suddenly... "Alphion put her down... I'll come quietly......" Sonic Spark stood up. "No Sonic Spark...." "Princess Celestia... Luna told me I could redeem myself, by letting you are any pony else in this room get hurt because of me, that would be a huge step backwards. Alphion isn't leaving without me, it's better if no pony else gets hurt when he does." Princess Celestia was astonished at the pony's sudden attitude change. "A wise choice my dear Sonic Spark, come.... we have something to discuss." Alphion put the Alicorn Princess down. A dark portal formed on a wall behind Alphion. "Come...." Alphion entered the portal... and before Sonic Spark entered, she tossed an purple amulet at Princess Celestia. She entered the portal... "What is that Princess Celestia?" Twilight Sparkle was confused, she had never seen Sonic Spark ever wearing or even holding that amulet. "This I would imagine, is our only ticket to Alphion's nightmare. Twilight, check for a book on Alphion, see if there is anything in there about an amulet." ***************************************************************************************************** "FLUTTERSHY!!" Fluttershy's illusion trembled as Alphion's voice thundered. "Release Rainbow Dash.... now!" "Y...y...yes master" Rainbow Dash was taken out of the pool and unchained. She was shaking vigorously from the freezing cold water. The scenery changed, back into the frozen wasteland. There was no more wind or snow falling from the sky. What was going on, Alphion was relieving her. Something was wrong. "Now Rainbow Dash, you're probably wondering whats going on. Well I'll let some pony else explain it for me." Alphion disappeared and Sonic Spark rose up from the shadows. "You........" The cyan Pegasus was still too weak, she could still barely stand. "Wait.... Rainbow Dash... please, listen to me" "Why should I listen to a word you say... I see what's going on. Alphion obviously doesn't need you anymore." "No.. No Rainbow Dash that's not it." "The only thing stopping me from killing you right now is the hours of pain that I've just endured." "No... don't that's exactly what Alphion want's you to do. Alphion feeds and gains power off of the darkness, fear and torture in any living thing's soul. He's using you.... to get stronger. If you give in to him... he'll grow too powerful and no pony will be able to stop him." "I don't.... believe you. I will never listen to a word you say. Ever." "RAINBOW DASH! Don't you get it! He knows how stubborn you are, all of this... it was all planned out! It's been inevitable from the start. He knows you won't listen to me, and you killing me will make him stronger. The only way to stop him is to not give in!" "Don't give in? Do you realize how long... I've been resisting, how long I've been being tortured? At this point, any relief he'll give me for whatever reason, I'll be glad to take it." The cyan Pegasus stood up, and slowly walked towards Sonic Spark. "Wait... Rainbow Dash, I know what you're going to do, and I won't fight you, I know I can't win. But if you do this you...." Sonic Spark didn't get a chance to finish. Twilight Sparkle's illusion appeared behind her. "Silence......." Twilight said and a purple beam shot out of her eye sockets and hit Sonic Spark. The yellow and black maned Pegasus couldn't speak. Twilight had muted her. "Do it Rainbow Dash..... do it...." Her voice echoed as she faded away. **************************************************************************************************** "That's it Celestia! Right here." Twilight had found a book on Alphion, inside the book there was a picture of the small purple amulet. "What does it say about the amulet Twilight?" Rarity was eager to hear how to use the amulet. She had grown as impatient as Rainbow Dash herself. "Rarity calm down, give Twilight a minute." "Thank you Applejack, now ok. The Amulet of Screaming Agony, legend has it that this amulet is possessed by the one and only Alphion, the Nightmare Inducer. The power contained within this amulet give's the holder the power to transfer a pony into a nightmare. The nightmare itself will not harm the pony's physical body, and the nightmare's conjured by it are not nearly as powerful as Alphion's. It can also be used by ponies to transport themselves into Alphion's nightmare. However no pony in the real world knows how it operates. Alphion and any of his subject's can use it with ease. But it's trigger is unknown to any pony of the real world." "That's it?" "Hang on, there's more on the next page." "While some believe there is no trigger. It is possible that Nightmare Moon, who possesses nearly the same powers as Alphion, can access the power of the amulet." Everyone looked at Princess Luna. "Well, I do still control the same powers of Nightmare Moon, I however have chosen not to use them. But it couldn't hurt to try." "Well what are we waitin fo'? Let's get to it." Applejack said. ************************************************************************************************* Rainbow Dash stared into Sonic Spark's eyes. She still could not speak because of Twilight's spell. "...................I don't care how weak I feel right now, I'd kill you anyway no matter how weak I am. What's stopping me, is what happened with Blitz. I thought she was a horrible deceiving pony, and when I saw what had done to her, I wished I could have just died on the spot." "I'm disappointed you feel that way Rainbow Dash." Alphion rose up from a dark hole in the floor. "But since you do, I guess I'll have to do this myself." Alphion raised his palm, and fired a blast of shadow at Sonic Spark. She fell to the floor. "NO!" Rainbow Dash charged over to Sonic Spark's body. She was dead, instantly killed by Alphion's blast. "It's your turn now Rainbow Dash." His eye's lit up red, and the cyan Pegasus collapsed. She opened her eyes, everything was blurry. Staring straight at her above her was Pinkie Pie's illusion. Unmoving..... she just stared at her and laughed maniacally. The petrified Pegasus stood up and started walking slowly. Surrounding her were all 5 illusions of her friends, all of them laughing. Everything was so blurry, even her hearing. Then something rose up from the floor again. Blitz... it was Blitz. But... no it couldn't be. Alphion had made an illusion of her to. Hey eye's were missing, just like the rest of the illusions. Her mouth was sown shut, and she had bruises and scars, exactly the spots where Rainbow had hit her. Blood oozed out of her empty eye sockets. The cyan Pegasus' heart stopped, she couldn't take anymore of this. She heard a voice echoing in the distance. "Come Rainbow Dash..... follow me." It was Blitz's voice, but her illusion was standing in front of her, she couldn't possibly talk, her mouth was sown shut. Blitz's illusion starting walking. The cyan Pegasus didn't want to move, but she felt herself being forced to follow. Occasionally, the cyan Pegasus heard a little electrical spark, where was she going? What was going on. "AHHH!" Rainbow's sight went black for a second and she saw Fluttershy being stabbed and tortured by Alphion. Blood was dripping from her head and body. Dash's vision returned, she was still following Blitz. Her sight went black again, then she saw Alphion, standing over Fluttershy's mangled body, laughing. Again, her vision returned.... Where was she going...... She kept following Blitz, then she felt herself falling. She blacked out mid-fall. *************************************************************************************************** Luna's horn grew a bright purple, she used her powers and lifted the amulet into the air. It began to glow as well. The amulet fired a beam at the wall and a portal opened. "Ok let's go!" "Wait. My little ponies, there is something I must say first. I have no idea what you will see on the other side of this portal. I cannot leave Equestria unattended, so Princess Luna will be accompanying you. And one more thing." Princess Celestia reached for her saddlebag. She pulled out a case, it was the case that contained the Elements of Harmony. "Here my little ponies, you may need this. Good luck to you." "Thank you Princess Celestia." Twilight Sparkle said, and took the case from Celestia. "Let's go save our friend girls." *************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash awoke, in a grassy field. "This..this is. No it can't be." She was staring at Ponyville. How could... what was going on. The confused Pegasus started walking towards the small town. She passed by the school where the Cutie Mark Crusader's and every pony else was playing in the schoolyard. Every pony was having a good time. Then suddenly, the sky turned dark and clouds formed over Ponyville. It began to rain and thunder. Ponies everywhere were running around in fear. Then Alphion and an army black shadows rose up. They moved the city, striking every pony in their path. Rainbow chased after them, her vision began to blur again. She looked around her, dead ponies covered the ground. Blood was flowing through the city like a river, the rain began to pick up. "Rainbow Dash!" The cyan Pegasus turned around, she saw Scootaloo running towards her. "Scootaloo!" Then a black shadow rose up from the ground and grabbed Scootaloo. "No..." Rainbow Dash couldn't move. The shadow grabbed Scootaloo and began to choke her. Scootaloo gagged and screamed in pain until she fell, lifeless to the ground. All around her, ponies were being slaughtered and massacred by Alphion's army. The cyan Pegasus went insane, screaming as loud as she could. The sights were unbearable. She felt a sharp pain in her throat, but she continued to scream. She collapsed to the floor. Alphion walked over to her. "You like what you see?" Alphion held Scootaloo's bloodied and battered body in the rainbow maned Pegasus' face. He raised his hand, and lowered Rainbow Dash into the ground..... Alphion returned her to the frozen wasteland. The same spot where Sonic Spark was killed. "Rainbow Dash.... I left Sonic Spark with you for a reason. You were supposed to kill her, and I thought that you would... but apparently you didn't. That disappoints me, i relieved you from Fluttershy's torture, but you defied my orders. You're stuck here forever, do what I tell you to do and this will be a lot easier for you." "Never... I'll never listen to you." "I'm sorry to hear that..." Alphion faded away, and Blitz's illusion rose up from the ground. "Whatever's next, I can take it, I won't give in...." A voice echoed in the distance... It was Blitz's "They way you made me suffer....... It is going to be returned to you.............You'll be begging for mercy........ Your screams of agony...shall echo throughout Equestria, and bring it's denizens to their knees..............."
In the Shadow of DeathI can't.... I just can't anymore..... I haven't even been here long, but.... it's just unbearable. I've only been back in Alphion's nightmare for 3 days.... it's been worse than the first time I was here. Sometimes in here I would feel moments where I was strong, others I would feel like giving up. My emotions constantly conflicting, but... I simply can take no more..... I just can't............. ***************************************************************************************************** "Get up!" Rainbow Dash crawled away from Blitz's illusion. She was beaten badly, Blitz wouldn't let up. Although her mouth was sown shut, the cyan Pegasus heard her voice booming inside her head. "I SAID GET UP!" Dash stood up. Blitz turned around and bucked Dash with extreme force, she fell to the ground again. Blitz walked over to her and jumped on her chest. "DON'T LIKE IT DO YOU! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WENT THROUGH!" Blitz picked up Rainbow and began to choke her, then tossed her on the ground. Blood stained the icy floor....Rainbow Dash was bleeding insanely fast, if she was mortal she would have died long ago... but that is no longer possible. She would live forever in Alphion's nightmare... forever. ****************************************************************************************************** Twilight woke up... in a frozen wasteland. Beside her was Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Princess Luna. "Wh..where are we?" Fluttershy said nervously. "We're in Alphion's nightmare my dear Fluttershy. This is where Rainbow Dash has been held." "Well how are we supposed to find her? This scenery seems to go on forever." Applejack muttered. "We'll just need to start looking!" Rarity said as she began to walk. They began to here an echo in the wind.... "GET UP!!! HAVE YOU FELT ENOUGH YET!! I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE!!" Fluttershy began to cower... "Was that? No it can't be. It sounds like Blitz!" Applejack said. "Ooooo Blitz is still alive! Yay!" Pinkie Pie, being in the most dangerous situation of her life still had her perky attitude. "Come on girls...." Princess Luna led the way as they walked towards the echoing voice. "Stop..... you will go no further...." Alphion flew up from the ground. "So..... you managed to make it here... I assume that Sonic Spark left you the amulet." "Yes Alphion... and we've come to defeat you... once and for all." Luna bravely said stepping forward. "Ahhh the fearless Princess Luna... I assumed they would send you. Look at you, you were once a powerful being of darkness and despair, but look at you now." "Alphion... even as Nightmare Moon my goal was never to harm and kill innocent ponies." "Sorry you feel that way. I offered you a great deal... but now you shall all pay the price." Alphion formed a dark hole under the 6 ponies... they all fell, down into Alphion's Lair. The six ponies awoke. "Now now..... I have a little game for you girls... but with a game there come rules..." Alphion raised his palm and picked up Princess Luna, and pulled her over to him. Then the illusions of Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie appeared. "These... are the 5 illusions that have tortured your dear Rainbow Dash beyond belief. I believe you can assume what you have to do." The illusions stepped forward... "I won't allow this!" "Shutup....." Alphion struck Luna and she passed out. "Good luck.... my little ponies..." Luna said before she blacked out. **************************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash was no longer even trying to stand. "I SAID GET UP!" Blitz was ordering her to stand, but it was impossible... "YOU ASKED FOR IT!" Blitz stomped hard on the cyan Pegasus' head. Her mane was no longer rainbow. The blood had stained it very bad... her cyan coat was turning purple from all the blood. Dash blacked out.... she opened her eyes.. she was seeing an image of her friends, fighting Alphion's illusions. She heard Luna's voice. "Rainbow Dash.... don't give up... all hope isn't lost... we've come for you... but right now we need your help.... please... don't give in." The cyan Pegasus awoke, feeling empowered that there was still hope for Equestria. She stood up and struck Blitz.... "Your not Blitz..." She struck her again... "All you are... Is one of Alphion's.... damned illusions." She picked up an ice shard from the floor and jammed it straight into Blitz's head. Blitz howled in pain. As she began to fade Rainbow Dash jumped onto her... fading into Alphion's lair with her. **************************************************************************************************** Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie had all collapsed. These illusions were too strong. They had no idea how Rainbow Dash could have endured all of this pain. Alphion had even made it so that Twilight's magic would not work, but her illusion could. It wasn't a fair fight and they couldn't win. Then Twilight remembered something... "Get up girls... Remember what Sonic Spark told us... any pony with an Element of Harmony inside of them... cannot be slain by Alphion or any of his illusions." "Dammit Sonic Spark.... I should have killed her before she mouthed off to them." Then all of a sudden, Blitz's illusion appeared in the middle of the fight between the ponies and there illusions. Rainbow Dash was still holding on to her... "RAINBOW DASH!" Pinkie shouted as she saw her friend appear. "Ughh..... I'm ok Pinkie...." Alphion had a serious look on his face now. He was obviously infuriated. "Hmmph... Enough girls..." His illusions faded back into the ground... Alphion stepped forward. "I've had enough of your little game...." Alphion began firing huge blasts of shadow and flame at the girls... Princess Luna stood up and bucked Alphion and he fell to the floor... She ran back over to the 6 ponies. The smoke cleared... and all off the ponies were still standing... except for Rainbow Dash... "Rainbow Dash!" "No.... it's ok... I'm fine." "Here girls..." Luna handed Twilight the case with the 6 Elements of Harmony. The 6 ponies put on the elements... and fired a blast at Alphion... He roared in pain. He fell to the ground, unmoving. "So that's it.... It's over?" Pinkie Pie said. "No... look!" Twilight said as Alphion stood up... "AGAIN!" "Wait........" Alphion said as he stood up. He was too weak to fight back. Rainbow Dash collapsed again. "Before you end me.. I want to tell you all something... Your friend Rainbow Dash has suffered injuries that would have relieved any mortal with death by now. She is beyond recovery.... If I am defeated... and she returns to the mortal world in this state.... she will die." Every pony was shocked. Is what Alphion said true? "Princess Luna..." Twilight said as she looked at her. Luna didn't say anything.... she nodded her head... a tear coming out of her eye. "It can't be true... it just can't be......"
Tears of the Lost"Before you end me.. I want to tell you all something... Your friend Rainbow Dash has suffered injuries that would have relieved any mortal with death by now. She is beyond recovery.... If I am defeated... and she returns to the mortal world in this state.... she will die." Those were the words uttered by Alphion.... that changed my life... If Alphion was defeated I would die, if he wasn't I would remain tortured in his nightmare while he regained his strength again to envelop Equestria in it too.... I couldn't win.... from the start....It was all planned out.... All of it.... ************************************************************************************************************ "So.... make your choice..." Twilight looked at her friend Rainbow Dash... she had lost her once, she didn't want to lose her again, but either way she would.... Alphion began to stand up... If they didn't decide soon... Alphion would take them all out and they would lose their chance. Every pony looked at Rainbow Dash... who was still barely strong enough to stand... She looked back at them. She nodded her head... "Let's end this...." "R....Rainbow Dash...." Fluttershy said. "For Equestria.... we must do this... Regardless of the cost." They all nodded their heads. Another beam shot out of the elements, striking Alphion. Alphion roared in pain, he floated into the air and faded away, banished forever. Then all the ponies rose up, out of the nightmare. "WE DID IT WE DID IT!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she hopped up and down. "PINKIE PIE!" Applejack yelled at Pinkie Pie. "Ugh........" Rainbow Dash was in horrible shape, she didn't have much time left. "Don't worry Rainbow Dash... were gonna get you to a hospital... it'll be ok." Twilight said. "No...... there's not enough time.... just listen....." The cyan Pegasus was barely moving... her voice was faint. "Applejack.... you've always been a great friend to me. Straight forward and honest, you're strong and you were great competition...I'll never forget you." "I'll (sniff) never forget'ya either RD." "Pinkie Pie.... no matter what the situation.... you could always make me smile.... Please.. hold on to that, make sure Ponyville remains a joyful place where every pony can live in happiness." "I......I..I'll make sure of it Dashie.... "Fluttershy.... you were always a kindhearted spirit. Always loving and caring for every single living creature in this world." "I...." Fluttershy couldn't finish her sentence she was to busy crying. "Rarity... you were always so generous. No matter what any pony said, you always tried to make them happy. If they didn't like you decisions, you would swallow your pride and respect their opinion." "Oh Rainbow.... thank you... I'm going to miss you so very much...." "Twilight.... you were always good at giving advice and help. When any pony needed something you were always there for them, especially me when I got mixed up in my stupid stunts." "Oh Rainbow Dash....." Just then..... a two figures appeared over... they were Pegasi.... wait.... it was Sonic Spark and Blitz. No it wasn't them, it was their spirits, coming down to see Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash...." Blitz said. "I didn't know you for very long.... and I'm sorry about what Alphion did to you. You jumped to the conclusion that I was his agent, I can see why. I forgive you for what you did, and I'm sorry what you had to go through." "Th...thank you Blitz..." "Rainbow.. Rainbow Dash... I'm sorry.... this is all my fault... If I had only realized... this never would have happened... I... I'm sorry...." "It's ok Sonic Spark.... I forgive you..." The cyan Pegasus grew weaker... and weaker... "Every pony.......... even though you're memories of me were wiped from existence... you're still my friends... and I won't forget you....." The cyan Pegasus closed her eyes.... for the last time in her life. Every pony's eyes began to water. Their friend, who had they for so long, was replaced by another pony, and now that Alphion was defeated, she was dead. "I...can't believe she's gone...." Fluttershy said softly. Blitz and Sonic Spark's spirit even began to shed tears. Twilight and her friends spread Rainbow Dash's story all throughout Equestria. 4 days later.... It was a hot summer day, but regardless of the weather, everyone was wearing black. Rainbow Dash's casket was lowered down into the ground. She was buried next to the tree where she used to sleep all time. Every pony left, except for Fluttershy. "................I'm sorry.................." She said softly and began to walk away, crying. **************************************************************************************** Rainbow Dash opened her eyes... "Wh...where am I?" She looked around her. There was a soft cool breeze blowing, the sky was blue with not a single cloud. Bright green grass colored the floor. She looked in the distance and there seemed to be other ponies there. She walked over to them. These... these were spirits. "So this? This is where you go when you die?" "Yes...." The cyan Pegasus turned around, it was Blitz "Blitz!?" Blitz smiled and tilted her head slightly at Rainbow Dash... "Come on... let me show you around." Dash followed Blitz, glad that she wouldn't be totally alone in this world. "You'll find that this place isn't much different than the regular world. The only downside is.... there are ponies here from waaay back, so it's a little difficult to make friends. Since we had such different lifestyles." "It's ok Blitz, we'll find a way to manage. And again.... sorry that you're here because of me, it really is my fault, if I hadn't been so headstrong and so quick to jump to conclusions, neither of us would be here right now." "Again Rainbow Dash... I forgive you, Alphion had planned all this, you couldn't have stopped it, nobody could have." Just then Sonic Spark landed next to them. "Yea I could have stopped this. If only I realized, you two wouldn't be here, just me, but I deserve it." "No you don't... trust me Sparkie, you couldn't have stopped Alphion, not by yourself. Let's just be glad he's gone." Sonic Spark's ears perked up, no pony had ever called her "Sparkie" before, she kind of liked it. The air grew quiet and the wind stopped. The 3 ponies looked behind them. There was no one there, then they began to here a voice. "Hi girls..... have fun while you can, but the nightmare.... isn't over yet........."
The Dark Knows No BoundsIt's been three weeks, I have arrived in this, spirit world after I was released from Alphion's nightmare. However, after I arrived here.... me, Blitz and Sparkie, we have gotten used to calling her that, heard that voice. A strange voice... saying that the nightmare wasn't over. But it's not possible... he was banished by the Elements of Harmony. We thought we were just hearing things so we ignored it. And moved on with our "after" lives. ******************************************************************************************* "Hey... Rainbow Dash!" The cyan Pegasus awoke, she opened her eyes with Sonic Spark flashing a creepy smile in her face. "Ahhh!" she yelped "Haha... gotcha!" Dash stood up. "Uhh yea you got me.. haha" "Something wrong Dash?" "No... it's just, I feel so empty you know? I mean I've known Twilight and them for so long and now they're gone." "I'm sorry RD. In a way, all three of us were close to them." "Yea......." "Well come on. A nice day at the park will cheer you up! Come on, Blitz is waiting for us." A few minutes later. "Hey Blitz." "Good morning Rainbow Dash." Blitz was in a good mood, not that that wasn't normal. The three Pegasi spent the day talking, flying around and after a few hours they all laid down on the grass to rest. "(Yawn) Ok girls... I'm gettin tired I'm gonna go get some sleep." Sonic Spark got up and flew away, towards her house. Any time a new pony entered the spirit world, a new house would appear just for them. Blitz rolled over looking at Rainbow Dash... "Hey... Dashie?" The cyan Pegasus hated being called that now. It reminded her too much of Pinkie Pie. But Blitz and Sonic Spark had their own reasons to be upset too, so she didn't want to point it out. It would just make it look like Dash was looking for sympathy, and she was never one to like sympathy. "What is it Blitz?" "Well... there was something I wanted to tell you..." Blitz inched closer to the rainbow maned Pegasus. This wasn't the first time though, back in Ponyville Park, she did the same thing before Rainbow Dash flew away. "What?" "Well... I kinda.." She couldn't finish her sentence. Suddenly the sky turned black and thunder began to roar. They looked behind them and every pony was rushing into their homes. Then, cyan Pegasus' worst fears were imagined. Alphion.... rose up from the ground... laughing menacingly. "Ahahaha... I'm back Rainbow Dash. Did you really think you could escape? You're going to suffer in my nightmare forever. No Elements of Harmony can save you... and since you're already dead, should I somehow be defeated again, I can simply come get you again. You have one day... but tomorrow, you return to my nightmare." Alphion faded away. Rainbow Dash stood there with here eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "No.....No....NO!!" ************************************************************************************************ "Dashie.... I...." "Save it Blitz......." Blitz and Dash were sitting in Sonic Spark's house. How could Alphion still be alive... the Elements of Harmony worked on Nightmare Moon and Discord, why not Alphion? Wait... there was a reason... Nightmare Moon was simply a dark prison for Princess Luna... the Elements broke the prison and freed Luna. With Discord, it banished him BACK into his stone prison. There was nothing that could contain Alphion, he was never imprisoned. Since he had nowhere to be banished to, he would remain here forever. Rainbow Dash got up... and started to walk back to her house. "......I can't believe after all this.....all we've gone through, it was still for nothing." Sonic Spark said. Blitz was silent, two times she had tried to confess her true feelings for Dash, and both times she was interrupted. But that wasn't important right now, what's important was that she had to help Rainbow, she couldn't let her suffer in that nightmare forever. Not after all she had already been through. "Rainbow Dash! Wait." The cyan Pegasus didn't slow down, she rose into the air and dashed off.. and poof she was gone. Blitz began to cry.... if she didn't find Dash soon, she would never see her again. The cyan Pegasus landed.. she sat down on the light green grass. It was getting dark out... but she was too tired to go back. She laid down on the grass and fell asleep. It was at least 6 hours since Rainbow Dash flew away. Blitz had been flying around searching for her nonstop... eventually she went back to town, in hope of getting some help from Sonic Spark. "Blitz? You look terrible." "I've been up looking for Dashie, I can't find her anywhere. If we don't do something... we'll never see her again." "I know... I didn't get any sleep last night either. Come on.... let's go find her." Blitz and Sparkie searched for hours. Then at last they saw a cyan figure laying down in the distance. It was Dash! They instantly bolted toward her... when the sky grew dark. "Ahahaha.... the time has come Rainbow Dash.....Come...." "She's not going anywhere!" Sonic Spark stepped forward. "Yea!" Blitz stood next to Sonic Spark. "Uggh, I don't have time for this...." Alphion raised his palm and raised Blitz and Sonic Spark into the air. "Ahk'naa shith ar'aan" They had no idea what the hell he just said. It sounded like he was speaking a different language. However then a dark beam shot out of Alphion's palm striking Blitz and SonicSpark... they seemed to be fading. Rainbow Dash didn't know what was happening, but she couldn't let this continue. "Wait.... stop Alphion." Alphion lowered his palm. "Come..." Alphion opened up a portal... and began to walk through it. Rainbow Dash turned around. "It's ok girls.....I'll be fine.." "Wait Rainbow Dash!" The cyan Pegasus smiled and walked into the portal, she faded into the swirling black vortex. "R...Rai...." Blitz bursted out crying. Sonic Spark even began to shed tears. She patted Blitz on the head. "It's ok Blitz.... we'll.... we'll find a way to get her out of there." Blitz didn't feel any better. How could they stop Alphion, the only things capable of defeating him were proved useless. Blitz didn't know how to describe it but she... ever since she laid eyes on Rainbow Dash...... "Come on... let's try and find some help." ************************************************************************************************ "Welcome back Rainbow Dash... you remember this place don't you?" It was the same room where Rainbow first met Alphion. She didn't reply to Alphion's question. "Well, you've shown so much resistance and so much strength. I figured leaving you in my nightmare would be a waste. What say you take Sonic Sparks place? Be my agent in the fields of darkness." The cyan Pegasus couldn't believe what she was hearing. Alphion was offering her relief from all the torture, all she had to do was assist him, she would take Sonic Spark's old place. But she couldn't do that, she would be betraying Equestria, fighting everything she had fought so hard to protect. "Alphion... I would rather suffer for the rest of eternity, than help you take over Equestria." "I assumed that's what your answer would be, since I am still too weak to conjure a new agent, I will simply have to take one... I wonder if Fluttershy is available? Or maybe Applejack? Or Rarity? Who knows...! Ahahahaha." Alphion let out a menacing laugh. Rainbow Dash flinched... he was going to get one of her friends to help him, but they wouldn't agree to that! Right? "Well Rainbow Dash... you know where it's time to go now don't you?" "Hi Rainbow Dash..." A pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the distance as the soft graceful voice echoed throughout Alphion's lair. ************************************************************************************************* 1 week later.... Blitz was a total wreck, Rainbow Dash was gone. And what was worse than that? She couldn't do anything about it! She would live in this spirit world forever in peace, while Rainbow Dash was tortured and Alphion slowly devoured Equestria. Then the rest of the ponies would feel the same torture, and never feel the relief of death. She admitted it to herself... she loved Rainbow Dash.... she wouldn't stop until she was back. "Rainbow Dash is in danger, Equestria will soon fall to darkness... come on Sparkie, we need to do something." "You got it, let's go."
Dead AirThe air in Ponyville was dull and lifeless. Without Rainbow Dash every day life was boring and gray. She would normally be the one to clear clouds on a daily basis. Pinkie Pie tried to keep her promise and keep the citizens happy. It was useless, she couldn't bring the sun out every morning, and with her friend missing, it was impossible to feel joy herself. Alphion was gone.... but nothing was better, they were worse than before... ************************************************************************************** Sonic Spark and Blitz spread word of Rainbow Dash's disappearance. Most of these spirit ponies either didn't care, or didn't try to do anything about it. There was no leader or ruler of the spirit world they could go to. At least, there was no known ruler. "What are we supposed to do Blitz, no one will even believe us! Remember Alphion is still unknown to everyone here, he is only known to the living ponies of Equestria and us..." "I have no idea Sparkie, but if we give up now, Rainbow Dash is going to suffer for eternity. We live forever here, we can't just give up after a few days." Blitz and Sonic Spark walked out of town and went to the spot where they used to hang out with Dash. They both laid down and thought about what they could do next. Then... a dark swirling vortex appeared in the distance. It moved closer to the two Pegasi. It stopped in front of them... under it was the shadow... of a pony, and alicorn to be exact. "Hello Blitz.... Sonic Spark." **************************************************************************************** "Fluttershy!" "Y...yes master Alphion." "Where's Rainbow Dash, there's something I want her to see." "Ok...." Fluttershy's illusion faded away. "Rainbow Dash...." The cyan Pegasus spun around and saw Fluttershy's illusion walking toward her. She backed away from the deranged Pegasus. "Relax Dashie.... I'm not here to hurt you, Alphion has requested I bring you to him." "Get out of here, I'm not helping him in whatever the hell he wants." Fluttershy didn't answer, instead she grabbed Rainbow Dash and they both faded into the ground. "Hello Rainbow Dash...." "What do you want from me now...." She cursed under her breath. "Come over here... I wish to show you something." The rainbow maned Pegasus didn't move. "Oh come on, now you're just being a pest." Alphion used his powers and pulled her toward him. Alphion raised both his palms and closed his eyes. "Aghh." Rainbow Dash felt a sudden headache come on. She was beginning to see illusions. No... it was a vision, of Blitz? and Sonic Spark? Wait, there was one more pony, it was white and had a black mane. It's horn was broken in half and it had long wings, wings Rainbow Dash had never seen before. Who was this mysterious white alicorn? "Who... who is that?" Rainbow Dash said. "Well... I was preparing to persuade your friend Fluttershy into helping me," Alphion laughed under his breath. "But then... I saw this pony, scouring the Everfree forest. His name is Black Flare, he is one of the few alicorns that live in Equestria. But no pony knew who he was, I offered him a chance to stand by me, and rule the very people who neglected him. His powers have elevated beyond any other alicorns, and the darkness has overpowered his souls, making his eyes completely black." "Why.... why is there with Blitz, and Sparkie?" "You'll see..." **************************************************************************************** "Wh...who are you?" Blitz asked. "My name, is Black Flare." "Why are you here! Give us answers!" Sonic Spark said. "I'm here to deliver a message, from Alphion!" Black Flare rose into the air, and a dark pulse shot out from his body. The air turned quiet and dark, and the wind stopped blowing. The grass turned a dark gray color, the dark alicorn landed. "Like what you see?" His eyes were practically emanating shadows. He took a step closer to Blitz. Blitz and Sonic Spark both backed away. Black Flare shook his head lightly. He faded away. "Wh..what?" He reappeared in front of the two Pegasi. He lifted his to front hooves and two dark beams shot out striking both of them. "Stop your search for Alphion.." He said as he turned around. "Or you'll see me again later." He faded away into the dead air of the spirit world. ************************************************************************************************** "Hahahaha." Alphion laughed as he walked away from Dash. "Oh... Rainbow Dash I forgot to tell you something." The cyan Pegasus raised her head. "Since... my power is still recovering after your feeble attempt to stop me, you won't be returning to the nightmare at least not now. I'd rather have you healthy when you see Equestria devoured by darkness...." He faded away and Fluttershy's illusion was standing behind him. "Follow me...." The cyan Pegasus followed, willing to do anything if it meant not returning to that nightmare. They entered a small dark room... "You're staying here until Master Alphion says otherwise." Rainbow Dash walked in and was knocked to the ground by Fluttershy. "Have fun..." She giggled as she walked out. The cyan Pegasus looked around, there was nothing in this room. It was just like a black box she was trapped inside of. She laid down, trying to at least get some sleep. **************************************************************************************************** "Errrgh, Blitz? Are you ok?" "Yea... I'm fine." The two Pegasi stood up. They looked up at the sky, it had turned black and the ground was an ash gray color. All of the flowers and trees had disappeared. They looked behind them, the town was the same but every pony didn't look to happy about the changes. "What are we supposed to do now?" Sonic Spark asked. "I don't know.... We've done everything we could and we got no positive results." "We need to think of something..." "I know I know... Let's just... call it a day, I'll see you tomorrow." Blitz and Sonic Spark tried for weeks to find a way to save their friend. After 3 weeks Sonic Spark had given up. Blitz continued for 2 months trying to do something. Eventually she just collapsed from exhaustion. "It's over Blitz.... we can't do anything else.... Dash is gone." Blitz started to cry... It couldn't end, not like this. She couldn't lose Dash after all she went through to find her. She imagined the cyan Pegasus being tortured back in Alphion's nightmare with no hope of escaping. "But... maybe we could..." "NO BLITZ! I hate this too, but there is nothing we can do. No pony will believe us, no pony will help us, there's no access to him from here, it's over. Get up and go get some sleep, you're a wreck." Blitz ran off crying. That reminded Sonic Spark of something. Although she was technically a fake pony, she still had all of Rainbow Dash's memories... she saw everything. As she clicked through images in her mind, she saw something... Something that could save Rainbow Dash.... ************************************************************************************************** The cyan Pegasus was completely destroyed. She hadn't been allowed out of this room for years, no maybe it wasn't years, maybe months or weeks or just a few days. She couldn't tell the difference. All she did was sleep, when she woke up she attempted to go back to sleep. Until images in her mind began to run and she couldn't stop crying. Thinking about her friends and the life she used to have before all this. At this point, she would be happy to be in the nightmare, because this was torture on its own. "Oh Rainbow Dash... it's time." The rainbow maned Pegasus didn't move. The door opened and Alphion entered. "My powers have returned to their maximum strength, come." Rainbow Dash stood up and followed Alphion. They entered the main chamber of his lair, not that it looked much different, all the walls, the floor and the ceiling was black. He waved his arm and an image appeared on one of the walls, it was Ponyville. "Prepare Rainbow Dash, for every pony you one knew and loved is about to befall the same fate as you." Alphion raised his arms and they began to glow purple. Then black clouds formed over Ponyville, same as before and black shadows rained down and began dragging ponies down with them. "And after Equestria has been dealt with, the ponies of the spirit world will join us here as well. So no pony, dead or alive is safe from me!" It was over.... Rainbow Dash had failed to do anything. The Elements Harmony failed... The only hope for anything, was whatever Sonic Spark's crazy idea is. It's the only shred of light that is still shining on the existence of ponies. If whatever it is doesn't work... all is lost forever.
Fading ShadowsIt's over Alphion has regained his strength and has begun to devour Equestria. His shadows are tearing apart the souls of every pony in Equestria. Dooming them to forever live in this nightmare. This is where it would end... or that's what I thought, we weren't finished yet. ******************************************************************************************* "BLITZ!" Sonic Spark charged into Blitz's house. "What is it Sonic Spark?" "I know how we can do it, I know how we can get to Rainbow Dash!" Bltiz instantly jumped up. "How?" "Since I replaced Dash in history I had all of her memories. We'll get to her the same way she first reached Alphion." "How is that?" "Rainbow Dash tricked Pinkie Pie into fading into Alphion's realm with her. All we need to do is get Black Flare back here. When we do we grab onto him and poof, back into Alphion's nightmare." "Sweet Celestia! That would work! But wait... how are we supposed to get Black Flare to show up again? He said he would return if we continued searching for Rainbow Dash. We continued, but he never showed up." "It was because we had lost faith, we knew we couldn't do anything. We were at a loss from our friend, but now there's hope. Come Blitz, get up. It's time to save Rainbow Dash." ******************************************************************************************* "Applejack run!" Twilight shouted as a shadow nearly landed on her friend. "Jeez Twilight, what are we s'possed to do!?! These thing's are everywhere!" "I don't know Applejack." "Twilight!" Twilight glanced around as she saw Fluttershy and Rarity running towards her. "What's wrong Fluttershy?!" "Pinkie... they got Pinkie!" "What!? Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing, her friend had been captured. She held back tears, determined to save everyone else. "Come on girls... we gotta get out of here!" Shadows rained from the sky, obliterating anything they touched. Twilight looked around her, and all she saw was ponies, unicorns and pegasi alike trying to escape. It was useless no pony could escape. "Sweetie Belle!" Again she turned around and saw Applebloom and Scootaloo trying to pull Sweetie Belle out of a dark hole. "Hang on girls!" Twilight's horn began to glow, and using all her energy pulled Sweetie Belle out of the hole. "Come on girls we need to move now!" The Cutie Mark Crusaders followed as the rest of the ponies ran for the edge of Ponyville. Then suddenly a shadow came flying down aimed directly at Twilight. "Watch out!" She jumped out of the way, she dodged the shadow, but it hit Rarity straight on. She fell into the dark void of Alphion's nightmare. "Rarity!" Applejack said as she saw her friend fall into oblivion. "Come on Applejack we need to move!" She followed, reluctant to leave her friend behind. "Stick together or we'll get picked off one by one!" All the ponies listened, clumping up together. Another shadow plunged towards them. "Every pony jump right now!" They all did, except for Fluttershy who was in the middle and tripped. The shadow struck her and she fell into the dark swirling abyss as well. "Fluttershy!" Twilight began to cry as she was running, no matter what they did, they still got picked off one by one. "There's the edge of Ponyville. Come on every pony we almost made it." "I'm afraid I can't let you do that..." The ponies all came to a screeching halt. A pony rose up from the ground, an alicorn to be exact. It had a white coat, black mane and silver spiked chains were clipped to its legs. "My name... is Black Flare, the agent of Alphion. You're not leaving Ponyville. Ahk'naa shith ar'aan" As those words were uttered a dark beam shot out of the white alicorns cracked horn. It struck the 5 ponies and they all rose into the air. The dark beam crushing their throats. "Good luck... ahahaahahaaa." Black Flare faded away and a shadow plunged at Applejack, Twilight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Applejack stood up and knocked the other ponies away from the blast. They all looked at her... She winked at them and smiled as the shadow dragged her into the abyss. "Applejack!" Applebloom began to cry. The rest of the ponies began to cry as well. Twilight stood up, rubbing her eyes. "Come on girls... we need to keep moving, it's what Applejack would've wanted...." ******************************************************************************************* Rainbow Dash was watching in horror as Alphion destroyed Ponyville and the rest of Equestria. She couldn't do anything... she was too weak to move or even speak. She just stood there, legs wobbling and mouth agape. "Like what you see Rainbow Dash? It's lovely isn't it." She didn't respond, she was too focused on Twilight, still dodging shadows. "Come on Twilight." she thought to herself. ******************************************************************************************* Blitz and Sonic Spark had been spreading word about Rainbow Dash for hours nonstop. No one believed them, they expected that but they need to lure Black Flare here. "I thought I warned you fools!" The dark alicorn rose up from the ground. "But I see you two are as ignorant and stubborn as Rainbow Dash herself. Which is why I'm going to end both of you right now. I will sever your souls from your bodies and incinerate your souls until there is nothing left of you both!" A dark ray shot out of Black Flare's horn. Blitz and Sonic Spark both circled around it, easily dodging it. Every pony else was watching, jaws dropped as they witnessed what was happening. The black maned alicorn lifted his wings and rose into the air. His wings spread bringing down a huge lightning bolt on Blitz. She barely dodged it, the lightning slightly singing her tail. Black pulses began emanating from the alicorn, striking the two Pegasi, knocking them to the ground. They both stood up. Blitz leaned closer to her friend and whispered something into her ear. Sonic Spark nodded her head. Blitz flew up flying circles around Black Flare. He shot a dark ray at her, it was tailing just behind her. Then the alicorn stopped the beam. He turned around and received a hard hoof to the face as Sonic Spark struck him. He fell to the ground. "We got him..." Blitz said. "Not quite..." Sonic Spark charged at the ground where Black Flare landed and charged straight into him, severely injuring him. He stood up, his legs shaking. His horn began to glow... "Now!" Blitz and Sonic Spark both grabbed onto him and all 3 of them faded away... ******************************************************************************************* "Come on girls... don't give up. Please...." It was hopeless, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were all hysterical. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had lost their sisters, while Scootalo had lost her idol Rainbow Dash. Twilight began to cry as well, all of her friends were gone. Alphion hadn't been defeated... he was back and he had claimed everything she loved. Rainbow Dash must have felt the same way..... But she couldn't let it end like this... she was going to make this right and make sure everything returned to normal. "Girls..." The 3 fillies looked up at Twilight. "We're going after them... follow me." They walked back into Ponyville. As Twilight expected... a shadow plunged directly at them. "I'm coming girls... Don't you worry." The shadow struck the four ponies, bringing them all into Alphion's nightmare. ******************************************************************************************* "Well... that's that. All of the ponies of Equestria now reside within my nightmare. And now Rainbow Dash.... it's time for you to join them." The cyan Pegasus faded away, back into the frozen wasteland, back into the nightmare, back.... into hell. "Well.... I'm back...." Then almost instantly, three ponies appeared next her. Blitz, Sonic Spark and Black Flare. "DAMMIT!" Black Flare shouted. His voice echoing throughout the nightmare. "You bastards..... latching onto me screwed up my travel path...." "What?" "Why in hell would I be stupid enough to bring you into Rainbow Dash's Nightmare!" "If only you weren't that stupid...." Alphion said. He rose up from the floor. "Black Flare... you have failed me... You were beaten by these two pegasi, DEAD pegasi... Besides, I have no further use for you anyway... So I might as well end you now." "NO... Alphion!" "Take this!" Alphion fired a dark beam at Black Flare. It struck him straight on. Smoke filled the area, making sight impossible. The smoke cleared and the white alicorn was still standing. "Alphion... you fool. You trusted me too much, granting me all this power has made me equivalent to you!" "Hahahaha..." Alphion merely laughed at the alicorn's threat. Black Flare shot a dark missile at Alphion. The dark lard shrugged it off like it was a paper ball. "I don't trust any pony Black Flare." The alicorn was lifted into the air, as dark beams shot into his throat, crushing it. He fell to the ground. Alphion then turned to the 3 Pegasi. "Since you're stuck here... I have no reason to separate you. Very well, you three will remain together... but be warned. My illusions are still looking for you, I'd get moving if I were you." Alphion faded away, letting out a menacing laugh as he disappeared. Blitz had so many things to say to Rainbow Dash... but now wasn't the time. Instead her and Sonic Spark both gave her a big hug and began to cry. "I'm so glad you're ok." Sonic Spark said, her voice almost drowned out from her crying. "Hey......girls.................." The pegasi turned around and saw Black Flare sprawled out on the ground. "Hmph.. good riddens." "Here........ take this......" Black Flare tossed a purple amulet at them. It was the Amulet of Screaming Agony! "With my power..... I modified it.......... use it....... to find your friends......... and please........stop Alphion..............." The alicorn closed his soulless eyes... and his heartbeat stopped. ".....Come on you two let's go. I still have a shred of Alphion's power in me.... I can activate the amulet. We can use it to get into you're Twilight and the rest of our friends' nightmares." The amulet began to glow and the 3 pegasi disappeared, into their friend's nightmare. They 3 pegasi awoke, in some sort of hedge maze. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. Alphion had brought her here before, this was where she was stabbed by Fluttershy's illusion and strangled by Alphion's psychic torment. There was no doubt that her friends were in trouble. "Come on... let's find them." They rushed through the hedge maze, making sure to stick together. They turned a corner and Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were all face to face with their illusions. "Oh no, not them again." Rainbow Dash rushed to her friends. "Rainbow Dash!" The 5 ponies turned around and cheered with excitement as they saw their three winged friends. Then, the illusions of Alphion charged at the 8 ponies. "Watch out!" Twilight pushed the other ponies out of the way, she shot a purple beam at the 5 illusions, striking all of them. "You're not escaping us... not again." The illusion's eye sockets began to glow red. They all stepped closer to Rainbow Dash. Twilight began to step next to Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy's illusion looked at her. Twilight smashed her hooves over her ears. "AHHHH!" Fluttershy was getting into her mind and torturing her from within. Soon, every other pony began to hear a sharp loud screeching in their heads. They all backed away, ignoring whatever the illusion's might be trying to do to Rainbow Dash. "You're all going to die here.... Alphion's power exceeds the Elements of Harmony. We will rip your souls from you bodies and use them and elevate our powers beyond maximum limits. Prepare for a true glimpse, into the future of Equestria." The hedge maze began to burn, the sky turned a dark purple. The clouds began swirling around rapidly. "Enough of this..." Alphion rose up from the ground... "Fluttershy..... My power is great, you're weak and feeble. I have no further use for you..." Alphion raised his hand... and the 5 illusions disappeared. The ponies removed their hooves from their ears, no longer being tortured by the illusions. Alphion's eyes began to glow, every pony and Alphion faded away, back into the main chamber of his lair. "Now girls... it's come to this..." The dark lord looked at Sonic Spark.... "You... I gave you life, strength and you betrayed me. I'm about to return the favor." Alphion disappeared, and reappeared in front of Sonic Spark. He raised his dark fist and struck the Pegasus with extreme force. She collapsed unconscious. "Sparkie!" Blitz began to run towards the pegasus. Alphion pointed his arm at Blitz. She was raised into the air and put back next to her friends. "No, no, no Blitz. Stay there." "What do you want from us Alphion! You did it! You have all of Equestria in this nightmare. Equestria is yours for the taking! What else do you want from us!" the cyan pegasus said. "Well.... since Equestria's mine... the only threat to me ruling it is you. So... you can imagine what's about to happen." The ponies all gulped, this was it. Alphion rose into the air, his eyes emanating shadows... "A'laat ishnu, kreet i'hknon dul'isha!" As Alphion uttered those words he raised his arms and two dark beams shot out of them. They separated into 7 beams each of them striking one of the ponies. "Errgh... What... what is this?" Rainbow Dash felt something... it felt like something was being torn out of her.... That was it.... Alphion was tearing out their souls and using them to empower himself. A pulse began running out of the ponies and into Alphion... his power was increasing. The 7 ponies howled in agony. Sonic Spark opened her eyes... she saw her friends, having their souls destroyed by Alphion... "No.... I helped him do this... I manipulated Rainbow Dash... I did this to my friends... and now.... I'm going to end this...." The pegasus stood up and charged at Alphion's beam. She stood right where the 7 beams conjoined... All of them striking Sonic Spark. The other ponies were dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. Sonic Spark turned around... "Girls... this was my fault. I couldn't let Alphion take your souls... his power is still stored inside me... If he absorbs my souls, he will be destroyed by his own power. Friends... goodbye." "No!" All the ponies said as Sonic Sparks souls was torn from her body and pushed into Alphion. Alphion howled in pain... making horrifying bloodcurdling noises. Parts of him began to fade away... "EERRAH!" His voice thundered as he screeched in pain. He was knocked down... he began to pull himself towards the other ponies. "Burn in hell...." Rainbow Dash said as she looked into Alphion's eyes... The other ponies backed away. Alphion stopped looking straight into Dash's eyes. He didn't say a word... instead he started to laugh, menacingly. He faded away, like dust in the wind... his laugh still echoing. "Well.... it's over isn't it?" The 7 ponies looked up. A beam of light shot down, and a figured descended from above. It looked like some kind of... they didn't know. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. It had the same body style as Alphion except, it was a light yellow and white color. It had large white wings, the size of a full grown colt. "Girls... you each contributed to the fall of Alphion... I must repay you for this..." "Wait... who are you?" Rainbow Dash said. "My name... I am Angealla. Alphion's counterpart. For every dark being such as himself, there must be a counter. That is me. He was the spirit of darkness, and me the spirit of light and the heavens." "Wait... so if you're his counterpart, you could have stopped him the whole time! But instead you watched!" "I wish that was true, Alphion's powers grew beyond my reach when he took Rainbow Dash. Feeding off the darkness in her soul bolstered his powers to triple of mine. Unfortunately, I cannot gain power off the souls of others, so my power remained the same. Even after being weakened by the Elements of Harmony he was still too strong." Every pony was speechless... "Now moving on... For defeating Alphion... I shall return you five to Equestria... And.... as the spirit of light and the heavens... I shall grant Blitz and Rainbow Dash their lives. They will return to Equestria with you." Every pony began to cheer, they all began to hug the two pegasi. "Wait..." Rainbow Dash pulled herself away from her friends. "What about Sonic Spark?" "I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do for her.... her spirit is trapped inside Alphion... and since he has been destroyed... so is her soul... I'm sorry." Angealla raised both of her arms... a light began to glow from them, and the 7 ponies were transferred back to Equestria. 6 months later..... Life in Ponyville returned to normal. "Hey... Blitz..." "What is it Applejack?" "Tell her..." "What? Tell who what?" "Don't play around Blitz, I know how you feel about RD. It's been pretty obvious ever since you both came back." Blitz began to blush... "Come on... go tell her." "Oh...Ok..." Blitz began walking towards Ponyville... ******************************************************************************************* "Hey Pinkie!" "*Yawn* Oh hi Rainbow Dash." Pinkie looked a little tired... what was wrong? "What's wrong Pinkie?" "Oh... I don't know, I couldn't sleep last night... It was weird... I just sat in bed all night and couldn't sleep....." Rainbow Dash's heart stopped, this couldn't be happening..... "Hey Rainbow Dash!" She turned around and saw Blitz running towards her. "I have something to tell you." Dash didn't respond... her eyes looked very wide and she looked pale. "Is something wrong Rainbow Dash?" "No..... nothing....." (The Temporal Shattering is a sequel to this if you want to check it out and see what happens next!)
